title: Calves shedding Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis are common on infected dairy farms.
abstract: Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) causes Johne's disease, a chronic progressive enteritis. It is generally assumed that calves rarely shed MAP bacteria and that calf-to-calf transmission is of minor importance. The objectives were 1) to estimate the prevalence of MAP-shedding young stock in MAP-infected dairy herds, and identify predictors for test-positive young stock; and 2) to estimate proportions of MAP-contaminated young stock group housing pens and air spaces, and furthermore, identify predictors for test-positive pens. Fecal samples were collected from 2606 young stock on 18 MAP-infected dairy farms. Environmental fecal samples were collected from all group-housing pens and dust samples were collected from all barns. All individual samples were analysed using IS900 and F57 qPCR; fecal samples positive by either PCR and all environmental and dust samples were cultured. Overall, 8.1, 1.2 and 2.0% of cattle were positive on IS900 qPCR, F57 qPCR and bacterial culture, respectively. Young stock housed on farms with culture-positive environmental samples collected from adult cow housing and manure storage had higher odds of testing IS900 qPCR-positive than young stock housed on farms with only negative environmental samples. Furthermore, 14% of collected environmental samples, but no dust samples, were test-positive. Age of cattle in the pen was a significant predictor for environmental sample results. Young stock excreted MAP bacteria in their feces which provided strong evidence for calves as sources of within-herd transmission of MAP on dairy farms known to be infected with this organism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Production Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. rwolf@ucalgary.ca.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.affiliation: Department of Production Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. karin.orsel@ucalgary.ca.
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Orsel
authors.affiliation: Department of Production Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. jdebuck@ucalgary.ca.
authors.forename: Jeroen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: De Buck
authors.affiliation: Department of Production Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. barkema@ucalgary.ca.
authors.forename: Herman Wildrik
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Barkema
mesh_terms: D000416:Alberta / Q000453:epidemiology; D000818:Animals; D057138:Bacterial Shedding; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D003612:Dairying; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D016927:Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D010283:Paratuberculosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D015995:Prevalence