title: Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection as a zoonotic disease: transmission between humans and elephants.
abstract: Between 1994 and 1996, three elephants from an exotic animal farm in Illinois died of pulmonary disease due to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In October 1996, a fourth living elephant was culture-positive for M. tuberculosis. Twenty-two handlers at the farm were screened for tuberculosis (TB); eleven had positive reactions to intradermal injection with purified protein derivative. One had smear-negative, culture-positive active TB. DNA fingerprint comparison by IS6110 and TBN12 typing showed that the isolates from the four elephants and the handler with active TB were the same strain. This investigation indicates transmission of M. tuberculosis between humans and elephants.
authors.affiliation: McHenry County Department of Health, Woodstock, Illinois 60098, USA.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Michalak
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Austin
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Diesel
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Bacon
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zimmerman
authors.forename: J N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Maslow
mesh_terms: D000822:Animal Husbandry; D000818:Animals; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D004606:Elephants; D006801:Humans; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D013183:Sputum / Q000382:microbiology; D014373:Tuberculin; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000635:transmission* / Q000662:veterinary*; D015047:Zoonoses
chemical_list: D014373:Tuberculin