title: Feasibility of using coyotes (Canis latrans) as sentinels for bovine mycobacteriosis (Mycobacterium bovis) infection in wild cervids in and around Riding Mountain National Park, Manitoba, Canada.
abstract: Elk (Cervus elaphus manitobensis) and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in the Riding Mountain National Park (RMNP) region of southwestern Manitoba have been identified as a likely wildlife reservoir of Mycobacterium bovis, the causative agent of bovine mycobacteriosis in livestock. The feasibility of using coyotes (Canis latrans) collected from trappers as a sentinel species was investigated. Retropharyngeal, mesenteric, and colonic lymph nodes and tonsils collected at necropsy from 82 coyotes were examined by bacterial culture, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and acid-fast histopathology. Mycobacterium bovis was not identified in any animal by culture or PCR although Mycobacterium avium species were isolated. A single acid-fast organism was identified on histopathologic examination of one animal. Based on the methods used in this study, trapper-caught coyotes do not appear to be a sensitive sentinel species of M. bovis infection in cervids in and around RMNP.
authors: Department of Veterinary Pathology, Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, 52 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5B4, Canada. cheryl.sangster@usask.ca
authors: Cheryl
authors: C
authors: Sangster
authors: Doug
authors: D
authors: Bergeson
authors: Cyril
authors: C
authors: Lutze-Wallace
authors: Vince
authors: V
authors: Crichton
authors: Gary
authors: G
authors: Wobeser
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild; D002417:Cattle; D046029:Coyotes / Q000382:microbiology*; D004197:Disease Reservoirs / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary; D008350:Manitoba / Q000453:epidemiology; D009163:Mycobacterium bovis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D018571:Sentinel Surveillance / Q000662:veterinary*; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary*; D014380:Tuberculosis, Bovine / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission