title: Isolation and Potential for Transmission of Mycobacterium bovis at Human-livestock-wildlife Interface of the Serengeti Ecosystem, Northern Tanzania.
abstract: Mycobacterium bovis, the causative agent of bovine tuberculosis (bTB), is a multihost pathogen of public health and veterinary importance. We characterized the M. bovis isolated at the human-livestock-wildlife interface of the Serengeti ecosystem to determine the epidemiology and risk of cross-species transmission between interacting hosts species. DNA was extracted from mycobacterial cultures obtained from sputum samples of 472 tuberculosis (TB) suspected patients and tissue samples from 606 livestock and wild animal species. M. bovis isolates were characterized using spoligotyping and Mycobacterial Interspersed Repetitive Units-Variable Tandem Repeats (MIRU-VNTR) on 24 loci. Only 5 M. bovis were isolated from the cultured samples. Spoligotyping results revealed that three M. bovis isolates from two buffaloes (Syncerus caffer) and 1 African civet (Civettictis civetta) belonged to SB0133 spoligotype. The two novel strains (AR1 and AR2) assigned as spoligotype SB2290 and SB2289, respectively, were identified from indigenous cattle (Bos indicus). No M. bovis was detected from patients with clinical signs consistent with TB. Of the 606 animal tissue specimens and sputa of 472 TB-suspected patients 43 (7.09%) and 12 (2.9%), respectively, yielded non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), of which 20 isolates were M. intracellulare. No M. avium was identified. M. bovis isolates from wildlife had 45.2% and 96.8% spoligotype pattern agreement with AR1 and AR2 strains, respectively. This finding indicates that bTB infections in wild animals and cattle were epidemiologically related. Of the 24 MIRU-VNTR loci, QUB 11b showed the highest discrimination among the M. bovis strains. The novel strains obtained in this study have not been previously reported in the area, but no clear evidence for recent cross-species transmission of M. bovis was found between human, livestock and wild animals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.|Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI), Arusha, Tanzania.
authors.forename: B Z
authors.initials: BZ
authors.lastname: Katale
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
authors.forename: E V
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Mbugi
authors.affiliation: DST/NRF Centre of Excellence for Biomedical Tuberculosis Research/SAMRC Centre for Tuberculosis Research, Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Tygerberg, Cape Town, South Africa.
authors.forename: K K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Siame
authors.affiliation: Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI), Arusha, Tanzania.
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Keyyu
authors.affiliation: Centre for Emerging, Endemic and Exotic diseases, Royal Veterinary College (RVC), Hawkshead Lane, North Mymms, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, UK.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kendall
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Morogoro, Tanzania.
authors.forename: R R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Kazwala
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology and Infection, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), London, UK.
authors.forename: H M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Dockrell
authors.affiliation: Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI), Arusha, Tanzania.
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Fyumagwa
authors.affiliation: Department Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Onderstepoort, South Africa.
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Michel
authors.affiliation: Southern African Centre for Infectious Diseases Surveillance (SACIDS), Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Chuo Kikuu, Morogoro, Tanzania.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rweyemamu
authors.affiliation: DST/NRF Centre of Excellence for Biomedical Tuberculosis Research/SAMRC Centre for Tuberculosis Research, Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Tygerberg, Cape Town, South Africa.
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Streicher
authors.affiliation: DST/NRF Centre of Excellence for Biomedical Tuberculosis Research/SAMRC Centre for Tuberculosis Research, Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Tygerberg, Cape Town, South Africa.
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Warren
authors.affiliation: DST/NRF Centre of Excellence for Biomedical Tuberculosis Research/SAMRC Centre for Tuberculosis Research, Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Tygerberg, Cape Town, South Africa.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: van Helden
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
authors.forename: M I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Matee
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild / Q000382:microbiology*; D002020:Buffaloes / Q000382:microbiology; D002417:Cattle; D017753:Ecosystem; D006801:Humans; D058751:Livestock; D018598:Minisatellite Repeats; D009163:Mycobacterium bovis / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013636:Tanzania / Q000453:epidemiology; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary*; D015047:Zoonoses
keywords: 
  Mycobacterium bovis
  ; MIRU-VNTR; human-animal interface; serengeti ecosystem; spoligotype