Animal tuberculosis in a free-ranging fallow deer in northwest Italy: a case of “lucky strain survival” or multi-host epidemiological system complexity?

Validation of a Novel Diagnostic Approach Combining the VersaTREK™ System for Recovery and Real-Time PCR for the Identification of Mycobacterium chimaera in Water Samples

“…Conversely, the VersaTREK™ system appears to be more sensitive in detecting viable M. chimaera in samples with a very low concentration ( Table 1 and Table 3 ). Analytical sensitivity is higher in a liquid cultural system than in a solid one [ 15 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 23 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 ], which is why the use of an appropriate liquid medium is crucial. Our data show that the use of mMVT as a liquid base for suspensions seems to guarantee a better performance of the VersaTREK™ in terms of positivity time.…”

“…The sensitivity of the VersaTREK™ instrument for detecting M. chimaera in NaOH decontaminated filtered 1000 mL water samples and centrifuged 100 mL water samples overlapped by about 150 CFU or less. The use of 2% NaOH as a decontamination agent, as used for M. bovis recovery from animal tissues [ 23 ] and as reported in other previous studies on the Mycobacterium avium complex [ 31 , 33 , 34 ], did not minimize recovery of the target bacteria, but was the best solution for the VersaTREK™ system (unpublished data).…”

“…Since the year 2000 [ 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ], the diagnostic laboratories of the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Piemonte, Liguria e Valle d’Aosta (IZSPLV) have been involved in the bovine tuberculosis eradication program and in reducing the prevalence of paratuberculosis. These efforts have led to a standardized protocol based on the isolation and molecular characterization of bacterial strains of veterinary interest in the genus Mycobacterium .…”