Di Marco Lo Presti Vincenzo, Ippolito Dorotea, Migliore Sergio, Tolone Marco, Mignacca Sebastian Alessandro, Marino Anna Maria Fausta, Amato Benedetta, Calogero Rosita, Vitale Maria, Vicari Domenico, Ciarello Flavia Pruiti, Fiasconaro Michele
Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Sicilia "A. Mirri", Palermo, Italy.
Unit of Emerging Zoonoses, Department of Food Safety, Nutrition and Veterinary Public Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
Front Vet Sci. 2024 Feb 1;11:1334036. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1334036. eCollection 2024.
Paratuberculosis (PTB) is a worldwide chronic, contagious enteric disease caused by subsp. (MAP) mainly affecting ruminant species. PTB is a WOAH-listed disease with direct and indirect economic losses in the livestock sector, negative impact on animal welfare and significant public health concerns. In spite of this, MAP prevalence in small ruminants is still unknown and the prevalence appears to be underestimated in many countries. The aim of this study is providing a first large-scale serological survey on MAP infection in small ruminants in Sicily, a region of Southern Italy with the 11.3 and 8.9% Italian national heritage of sheep and goats, respectively.
For this purpose, we analyzed a total of 48,643 animals reared in 439 flocks throughout Sicily. MAP seroprevalence was estimated both at herd-level and animal-level within breeds reared in all the nine sampled provinces.
Our results revealed a high overall apparent prevalence at herd-level of 71.8% in sheep and 60.8% in goat farms with an animal-level prevalence of 4.5 and 5.1% in sheep and goats, respectively. Significant statistical differences were found between the provinces and within the breeds both in sheep and goats.
Our study provides the first large-scale serological survey on PTB infection in small ruminants in Sicily and showed a high prevalence of disease depending to the species, breed and province. This study represents the first step to better understand the MAP epidemiology in a typical Mediterranean breeding context, suggesting the need of in-depth study on the herds risk factors, including the eventual presence of candidate genes for resistance/susceptibility to PTB in native breeds.
副结核病（PTB）是一种由副结核分枝杆菌亚种（MAP）引起的全球性慢性传染性肠道疾病，主要影响反刍动物。PTB是世界动物卫生组织（WOAH）列出的疾病，给畜牧业带来直接和间接经济损失，对动物福利有负面影响，并引发重大公共卫生问题。尽管如此，小型反刍动物中MAP的流行情况仍然未知，而且在许多国家其流行率似乎被低估了。本研究的目的是对西西里岛小型反刍动物中的MAP感染进行首次大规模血清学调查，西西里岛是意大利南部的一个地区，分别拥有意大利全国11.3%和8.9%的绵羊和山羊养殖量。
为此，我们分析了西西里岛439个羊群中饲养的总共48,643只动物。在所有九个抽样省份饲养的品种中，分别在畜群水平和个体水平上估计MAP血清阳性率。
我们的结果显示，绵羊养殖场畜群水平的总体表观流行率较高，为71.8%，山羊养殖场为60.8%，绵羊和山羊个体水平的流行率分别为4.5%和5.1%。在绵羊和山羊的省份之间以及品种内部均发现了显著的统计学差异。
我们的研究提供了西西里岛小型反刍动物中PTB感染的首次大规模血清学调查，并表明该病的流行率因物种、品种和省份而异。本研究是更好地了解典型地中海养殖环境中MAP流行病学的第一步，表明需要深入研究畜群风险因素，包括本地品种中对PTB抗性/易感性候选基因的最终存在情况。
