Detection of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in a sheep flock in Tuscany

• Published in: Tropical animal health and production Vol. 47; no. 8; pp. 1567 - 1571
• Main Authors: Galiero, Alessia, Fratini, Filippo, Turchi, Barbara, Colombani, Giuseppe, Nuvoloni, Roberta, Cerri, Domenico
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.12.2015; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animal populations; Animals; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cheese - microbiology; cheeses; Dairy products; Feces; Feces - microbiology; flocks; Genotype; Ileum - microbiology; Immunodiffusion; Infectious diseases; intestines; Italy; Life Sciences; liver; Lymph nodes; Lymph Nodes - microbiology; Microorganisms; Milk; Milk - microbiology; Mycobacterium avium; Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis; Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis - isolation & purification; paratuberculosis; Paratuberculosis - microbiology; polymerase chain reaction; Polymerase Chain Reaction - veterinary; Regular Articles; Ruminantia; Sheep; Sheep Diseases - microbiology; Sheep, Domestic - microbiology; spleen; surveys; Veterinary Medicine/Veterinary Science; Zoology; Italy; Polymerase chain reaction; Garfagnana district; Sheeps; Genotyping; subsp; Culture; Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis
• ISSN: 0049-4747; 1573-7438
• DOI: 10.1007/s11250-015-0899-z

Paratuberculosis is an infectious disease which affects ruminants. In this work, a sheep flock in Garfagnana district (Tuscany, Italy) was examined by agar gel immune-diffusion (AGID) tests, culture, and PCR from feces, milk, tissue samples, and cheeses. At the first AGID test, 7/280 (2.5 %) animals were positive. From these animals, feces and milk samples were collected: 4/7 feces (57.14 %) and 2/7 milk samples (28.57 %) were positive to culture and 7/7 (100 %) feces samples and 1/7 milk samples (14.28 %) were positive to PCR; 2/4 (50 %) cheeses ripened for 14 days and 1/3 (33.33 %) cheese ripened for 20 days were positive to PCR, from which no viable microorganisms were isolated. Then, the AGID-positive animals were slaughtered and tissue samples were taken from one sheep with PCR-positive feces and milk: the liver, intestine, mesenteric lymph nodes, but not the spleen and mammary lymph nodes were positive to culture; all these samples were instead PCR-positive. After 1 year, a second AGID survey was performed on the remaining animals: 6/244 (2.45 %) subjects were positive to this test. Data obtained revealed the presence of paratuberculosis in a sheep population in Garfagnana.