Finding evidence of Mycobacterium bovis DNA in soil from the Kruger National Park, South Africa.
The aim of this study was to determine if DNA from the zoonotic pathogen Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis) could be detected in soil from the Kruger National Park (KNP). In the KNP the pathogen is considered endemic and causes a chronic disease in many African wildlife species, including endangered species. If the pathogen could be shed and persist in the KNP soil environment this may play role in disease epidemiology which has been shown to be the case in European wildlife areas. To detect M. bovis in KNP soil, soil was sampled from around 5 water sources and DNA extracted. DNA was amplified with hsp65 PCR and Sanger sequenced at the Central Analytical Unit at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. The forward and reverse Sanger sequences were aligned to form consensus sequences and the ends trimmed. Consensus sequences were compared to the National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database to identify Mycobacteria to genus and or species level. Any samples which contained Mycobacteria tuberculosis complex (MTBC) DNA were further characterized as M. bovis based on additional PCRs. In total MTBC DNA was detected in 3 samples  (#32, 71 and 75) from 2 of the sampled locations.