The potential risk of international spread of Mycobacterium bovis associated with movement of alpacas
Published Online: Mar 25, 2022
Page range: 53 - 59
Received: Jan 12, 2022
Accepted: Mar 01, 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jvetres-2022-0012
Keywords
© 2022 M. Krajewska-Wędzina et al. published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.
Introduction
The study highlights the transboundary nature of tuberculosis (TB) in alpacas and the failure of current ante-mortem testing protocols (the tuberculin skin and Enferplex Camelid TB tests) to identify TB-free alpaca herds and individuals for export. Our research and the available literature indicate that the alpaca (
Material and Methods
Thoracic lymph node, lung and liver tissue samples obtained at necropsy were examined histopathologically after Ziehl–Neelsen staining. Tissue samples were homogenised and mycobacteria present there were cultured on Stonebrink’s medium during a 6-week incubation. A commercial test using polymorphism of the chromosomal direct repeat region provided species identification and additional identification was by spacer oligonucleotide typing and mycobacteria interspersed repetitive unit–variable number tandem repeat analysis with a gel electrophoresis protocol.
Results
The microbiological examination confirmed multiorgan TB caused by the SB0666 spoligotype of
Conclusion
Due to the suboptimal performance of current diagnostic tests for TB in alpacas, there is a risk that infected animals may be moved unwittingly. A risk of TB spread associated with the international movement of alpacas is implied by this study.