Laboratory of Wildlife Biology and Medicine, Graduate School of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, Kita 18, Nishi 9, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0818, Japan.
Elephant Care International, 166 Limo View Lane, Hohenwald, TN 38462, USA.
Tuberculosis (Edinb). 2014 May;94(3):287-92. doi: 10.1016/j.tube.2013.12.008. Epub 2014 Jan 8.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis was cultured from the lung tissues of 3 captive elephants in Nepal that died with extensive lung lesions. Spoligotyping, TbD1 detection and multi-locus variable number of tandem repeat analysis (MLVA) results suggested 3 isolates belonged to a specific lineage of Indo-Oceanic clade, EAI5 SIT 138. One of the elephant isolates had a new synonymous single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) T231C in the gyrA sequence, and the same SNP was also found in human isolates in Nepal. MLVA results and transfer history of the elephants suggested that 2 of them might be infected with M. tuberculosis from the same source. These findings indicated the source of M. tuberculosis infection of those elephants were local residents, presumably their handlers. Further investigation including detailed genotyping of elephant and human isolates is needed to clarify the infection route and eventually prevent the transmission of tuberculosis to susceptible hosts.
从尼泊尔死于广泛肺部病变的 3 头圈养大象的肺部组织中培养出结核分枝杆菌。 spoligotyping、TbD1 检测和多位点可变数串联重复分析（MLVA）结果表明，这 3 个分离株属于印度-印度洋谱系 EAI5 SIT 138 的一个特定谱系。其中一个大象分离株在 gyrA 序列中有一个新的同义单核苷酸多态性（SNP）T231C，尼泊尔的人类分离株中也发现了相同的 SNP。MLVA 结果和大象的转移史表明，其中 2 头可能感染了来自同一来源的结核分枝杆菌。这些发现表明，这些大象的结核分枝杆菌感染源是当地居民，可能是他们的饲养员。需要进一步调查，包括对大象和人类分离株进行详细的基因分型，以阐明感染途径，最终防止结核病传播给易感宿主。
