Al-Quds Nutrition and Health Research Institute, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Quds University, Abu-Deis, the West Bank, Palestinian Authority ; The Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel.
PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2013 Sep 12;7(9):e2417. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0002417. eCollection 2013.
Bovine tuberculosis, bTB, is classified by the WHO as one of the seven neglected zoonontic diseases that cause animal health problems and has high potential to infect humans. In the West Bank, bTB was not studied among animals and the prevalence of human tuberculosis caused by M. bovis is unknown. Therefore, the aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of bTB among cattle and goats and identify the molecular characteristics of bTB in our area.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A total of 208 tissue samples, representing 104 animals, and 150 raw milk samples, obtained from cows and goats were examined for the presence of mycobacteria. The tissue samples were collected during routine meat inspection from the Jericho abattoir. DNA was extracted from all samples, milk and tissue biopsies (n = 358), and screened for presence of TB DNA by amplifying a 123-bp segment of the insertion sequence IS6110. Eight out of 254 animals (3.1%) were found to be TB positive based on the IS6110-PCR. Identification of M. bovis among the positive TB samples was carried out via real time PCR followed by high resolution melt curve analysis, targeting the A/G transition along the oxyR gene. Spoligotyping analysis revealed a new genotype of M. bovis that was revealed from one tissue sample.
Detection of M. bovis in tissue and milk of livestock suggests that apparently healthy cattle and goats are a potential source of infection of bTB and may pose a risk to public health. Hence, appropriate measures including meat inspection at abattoirs in the region are required together with promotion of a health campaign emphasizing the importance of drinking pasteurized milk. In addition, further studies are essential at the farm level to determine the exact prevalence of bTB in goats and cattle herds in the West Bank and Israel.
世界卫生组织将牛型结核分枝杆菌（bTB）归类为七种被忽视的动物源传染病之一，这种传染病会导致动物健康问题，并且具有很高的感染人类的潜力。在约旦河西岸，尚未对动物中的 bTB 进行研究，也不知道由 M. bovis 引起的人类肺结核的流行情况。因此，本研究的目的是估计牛和山羊中 bTB 的流行率，并确定我们地区 bTB 的分子特征。
方法/主要发现：共检查了 208 份组织样本，代表 104 只动物，以及 150 份来自奶牛和山羊的生奶样本，以确定是否存在分枝杆菌。组织样本是从杰里科屠宰场的例行肉类检查中采集的。从所有样本（n = 358）中提取 DNA，包括牛奶和组织活检，并用扩增插入序列 IS6110 的 123bp 片段来筛查 TB DNA 的存在。根据 IS6110-PCR，254 只动物中有 8 只（3.1%）被发现为 TB 阳性。在阳性 TB 样本中，通过针对 oxyR 基因上 A/G 转换的实时 PCR 加高分辨率熔解曲线分析，鉴定出 M. bovis。 spoligotyping 分析显示，从一个组织样本中发现了一种新的 M. bovis 基因型。
在牲畜的组织和牛奶中检测到 M. bovis 表明，表面健康的牛和山羊可能是 bTB 的感染源，并可能对公众健康构成威胁。因此，需要采取适当的措施，包括该地区屠宰场的肉类检查，同时开展卫生宣传活动，强调饮用巴氏消毒奶的重要性。此外，在农场层面还需要进一步研究，以确定约旦河西岸和以色列牛和山羊群中 bTB 的确切流行率。
