Paratuberculosis in farmed deer: case reports and DNA characterization of isolates of Mycobacterium paratuberculosis.

Mycobacterium paratuberculosis was isolated from farmed deer in New Zealand on 21 occasions over a 7-year period. The number of cases increased during the last 3 years of the study. Clinical paratuberculosis was observed in 5 deer, 3 other cases came from grossly normal animals that reacted to a tuberculin skin test, and the remaining 13 animals had tuberculous lesions that were identified at meat inspection. Pathologic features of the lesions in these 13 cases included necrosis and mineralization in lymph nodes draining the gastrointestinal tract. The histologic changes in these lesions were very similar to those caused by Mycobacterium bovis and members of the M. avium complex. Characterization of 20 of the isolates of M. paratuberculosis by restriction endonuclease analysis and DNA hybridization revealed that 3 of these isolates were identical to New Zealand sheep isolates and 17 were the same as cattle isolates. The source of the cervine infections was not determined.