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Mycobacterium microti infection (vole tuberculosis) in wild rodent populations.
- Source :
-
Journal of clinical microbiology [J Clin Microbiol] 2002 Sep; Vol. 40 (9), pp. 3281-5. - Publication Year :
- 2002
-
Abstract
- Mycobacterium microti (vole tuberculosis) infections in small wild mammals were first described more than 60 years ago in several populations in Great Britain. Few studies of vole tuberculosis have been undertaken since then, and little is known about the relationship between M. microti isolates originating from different populations or at different times or of the prevalence of this infection in wild rodent populations, despite human cases of M. microti infections being increasingly reported. In this study, field voles (Microtus agrestis), bank voles (Clethrionomys glareolus), and wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus) were found to be infected, with up to 8% having external tuberculous signs, in wild populations in Northumberland and Cheshire, England. Spoligotyping applied directly to the clinical material simultaneously detected and typed M. microti bacteria in skin lesions, lymph glands, and internal abcesses. IS6110 restriction fragment length polymorphism typing of cultured bacteria was used to compare these isolates with previously isolated strains from both animals and humans. This demonstrated that although the current rodent isolates were distinct from those isolated from voles in the 1930s in Great Britain, they had a high degree of similarity to these strains and were distinct from the M. microti isolates from humans, a pig, and a ferret from The Netherlands. Thus, M. microti infection seems to be widespread in wild rodent populations, but more studies are needed to understand how M. microti might be transmitted from animals to humans and to determine better the zoonotic risk posed.
- Subjects :
- Animals
Arvicolinae
Culture Media
DNA, Bacterial analysis
England epidemiology
Muridae
Mycobacterium genetics
Mycobacterium isolation & purification
Mycobacterium Infections epidemiology
Mycobacterium Infections microbiology
Mycobacterium Infections pathology
Mycobacterium Infections veterinary
Oligonucleotides analysis
Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length
Rodent Diseases pathology
Tuberculosis epidemiology
Tuberculosis microbiology
Tuberculosis pathology
Animals, Wild
Mycobacterium classification
Rodent Diseases epidemiology
Rodent Diseases microbiology
Tuberculosis veterinary
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0095-1137
- Volume :
- 40
- Issue :
- 9
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Journal of clinical microbiology
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 12202566
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1128/JCM.40.9.3281-3285.2002