The prevalence of Mycobacterium bovis-infection and atypical mycobacterioses in cattle in and around Morogoro, Tanzania

Abstract

A study was conducted to determine the prevalence of Mycobacterium bovis-infection and atypical mycobacterioses in different cattle herd management systems in and around Morogoro, Tanzania. Between April and June 2005, a total of 728 bovines from 49 herds were tested for M. bovis-infection and atypical mycobacterioses. Milk samples were taken from tuberculin positive animals and analysed for the presence of mycobacteria. Total prevalences of 2.5% and 10.1% were found for M. bovis-infection and atypical mycobacterioses respectively, with more M. bovis-infection in cattle in the extensive management system and more atypical mycobacterioses in cattle in the intensive management system. From 8 out of 42 milk samples (19%) atypical mycobacteria were cultured. A higher prevalence of M. bovis-infection in the extensive sector could be due to several factors. In addition, such high prevalence puts herd owners and their families at risk for BTB. Therefore control of BTB, as well as education of cattle owners is important, especially in the extensive sector.

Preliminary Study on the Prevalence of Bovine Tuberculosis and Risk Factors Among Pastoralists in Gombe State, North Eastern Nigeria

“…Cattle could have acquired the infection through contaminated environment during grazing or at water sources. The high prevalence of NTM seen in this study in both cattle and human is even lower than the previous reports in Jos, Nigeria by Mwak et al [29] who reported a prevalence of 23.08% in humans, and also in Tanzania by Shirima et al [30] and Durnez et al [31] reported prevalence of 6% and 10% respectively in cattle. Similarly, in their study Mdegella et al [32] and Durnez et al [31] found also high prevalence of 14% and 19% of NTM in milk samples.…”

“…The high prevalence of NTM seen in this study in both cattle and human is even lower than the previous reports in Jos, Nigeria by Mwak et al [29] who reported a prevalence of 23.08% in humans, and also in Tanzania by Shirima et al [30] and Durnez et al [31] reported prevalence of 6% and 10% respectively in cattle. Similarly, in their study Mdegella et al [32] and Durnez et al [31] found also high prevalence of 14% and 19% of NTM in milk samples. Although this study did not investigate milk and its products, it is a known practice in the study area that consumption of unpasteurized milk is a very common practice; these might expose milk consumers in the study area to a great risk of infection.…”

Mycobacteria in Terrestrial Small Mammals on Cattle Farms in Tanzania

“…These farms can be divided into two reactor types based on the single comparative intradermal tuberculin test (SCITT) conducted in the cattle residing on the farms in 2005 and 2006 [14]. For all animals, the “current reactor status” at the moment the trapping took place was known.…”

“…In short, the organs were homogenized and decontaminated to reduce overgrowth of nonmycobacterial organisms [39], before inoculating them on culture media (Löwenstein-Jensen, Stonebrink, and Löwenstein-paratuberculosis medium [40]) and performing DNA extraction (described in [41]) and PCR (described in [14]) with inhibition check.…”

“…The milk samples were kept at −20°C and analyzed in Belgium by culture and PCR as described by Durnez et al [14]. …”