Research Article

Direct detection and identification of mycobacteria in bovine samples by PCR assay

Walid Hamdy Hassan, Essam Amin Nasr, Hassan Mohamed Moussa
Department of Bacteriology, Mycology and Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef 6511, Egypt.

Abstract

Bovine tuberculosis, caused by Mycobacterium bovis, is a zoonotic disease causing approximately 6% of total human deaths. Its economic losses are not only a reduction of 10-20% in milk production and weight, but also infertility and condemnation of meat. Many serological tests are applied for detection of tuberculosis. ELISA test has the highest sensitivity and specificity than the other serological tests for the diagnosis of tuberculosis. Several forms of new technology were brought into the diagnostic approach to mycobacterial infection. The aim of this work was to detect bovine tuberculosis by application of different traditional tests and PCR. Tuberculin skin test was applied on 2650 cattle, only 63(2.4%) were positive. Forty eight (76.2%) of the slaughtered positive animals showed visible lesions (VL) while the other 15 (23.8%) had non-visible lesions (NVL). Bacteriological examination of 10 selected tuberculin positive samples revealed M. bovis from 6 processed samples (60%) while PCR and ELISA assays revealed positive in 8 cases (80%) and 7 cases (70%), respectively. It was concluded that PCR test is more sensitive and specific test to confirm the infection with tuberculosis.

Keywords

M. bovis, MOTT, tuberculin, ELISA, PCR