Bovine tuberculosis in India: Potential basis for zoonosis

• Published in: Tuberculosis (Edinburgh, Scotland) Vol. 85; no. 5-6; pp. 421 - 428
• Main Authors: Prasad, H.K., Singhal, A., Mishra, A., Shah, N.P., Katoch, V.M., Thakral, S.S., Singh, D.V., Chumber, S., Bal, S., Aggarwal, S., Padma, M.V., Kumar, S., Singh, M.K., Acharya, S.K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Scotland Elsevier Ltd 01.09.2005
• Subjects: Animals; Bacterial Proteins; Bacterial Typing Techniques; Cattle; DNA, Bacterial - analysis; Histones - genetics; Humans; HupB; India; M. bovis; M. tuberculosis; Mycobacterium bovis - genetics; Mycobacterium tuberculosis - genetics; Nested PCR; Polymerase Chain Reaction - methods; Sensitivity and Specificity; Tuberculosis - diagnosis; Tuberculosis - microbiology; Tuberculosis, Bovine - diagnosis; Tuberculosis, Bovine - transmission; Zoonoses; Zoonotic TB; India; M. bovis; Nested PCR; Zoonotic TB; HupB; M. tuberculosis
• ISSN: 1472-9792; 1873-281X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tube.2005.08.005

Our laboratory has designed a specific nested-PCR (N-PCR) assay, based on the hupB gene of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Rv2986c) and Mycobacterium bovis (Mb3010c) as a method to differentiate these closely related species. The present paper deciphers the utility of this assay for identification of pathogenic Mycobacteria in clinical samples. Extra-pulmonary clinical samples obtained from cattle and humans were investigated. Pre-dominance of M. tuberculosis (15.7%) and M. bovis (26.8%) was seen in humans and cattle, respectively. However, more importantly, both mycobacterial pathogens (mixed infection) were identified in a number of samples. In humans 8.7% of the samples and 35.7% in cattle were classified as mixed infection. The detection of mixed infection with the mycoabcterial pathogenic duo in humans and bovines denotes the prospect of potential transmission of these pathogens from humans to cattle (zoonosis) and vice versa (reverse zoonosis).