title: Detection of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in a sheep flock in Tuscany.
abstract: Paratuberculosis is an infectious disease which affects ruminants. In this work, a sheep flock in Garfagnana district (Tuscany, Italy) was examined by agar gel immune-diffusion (AGID) tests, culture, and PCR from feces, milk, tissue samples, and cheeses. At the first AGID test, 7/280 (2.5 %) animals were positive. From these animals, feces and milk samples were collected: 4/7 feces (57.14 %) and 2/7 milk samples (28.57 %) were positive to culture and 7/7 (100 %) feces samples and 1/7 milk samples (14.28 %) were positive to PCR; 2/4 (50 %) cheeses ripened for 14 days and 1/3 (33.33 %) cheese ripened for 20 days were positive to PCR, from which no viable microorganisms were isolated. Then, the AGID-positive animals were slaughtered and tissue samples were taken from one sheep with PCR-positive feces and milk: the liver, intestine, mesenteric lymph nodes, but not the spleen and mammary lymph nodes were positive to culture; all these samples were instead PCR-positive. After 1 year, a second AGID survey was performed on the remaining animals: 6/244 (2.45 %) subjects were positive to this test. Data obtained revealed the presence of paratuberculosis in a sheep population in Garfagnana.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, Viale delle Piagge, 2, 56124, Pisa, Italy. alessiagaliero@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Alessia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Galiero
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, Viale delle Piagge, 2, 56124, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Filippo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fratini
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, Viale delle Piagge, 2, 56124, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Turchi
authors.affiliation: Azienda U.S.L. 2 Lucca, Lucca, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Colombani
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, Viale delle Piagge, 2, 56124, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nuvoloni
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, Viale delle Piagge, 2, 56124, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cerri
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002611:Cheese / Q000382:microbiology; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology*; D005838:Genotype; D007082:Ileum / Q000382:microbiology; D005779:Immunodiffusion; D007558:Italy; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000382:microbiology; D008892:Milk / Q000382:microbiology*; D016927:Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D010283:Paratuberculosis / Q000382:microbiology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D012756:Sheep; D012757:Sheep Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D034561:Sheep, Domestic / Q000382:microbiology*
keywords: Culture; Garfagnana district; Genotyping; Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis; Polymerase chain reaction; Sheeps