Poster presented in 33rd Annual Congress of the European Society of Mycobacteriology

July 1^st, 2012

Alvarez J., Bezos J., Marques S., Casal C., Grau A., Romero B., Rodriguez-Campos S., Guijarro LD., Minguez O., Dominguez L. and de Juan L.

Bovine tuberculosis is mainly caused by M. bovis, but other M. tuberculosis complex members such as M. caprae have already demonstrated its capacity to infect cattle and spread and tuberculosis due to M. caprae is considered an emerging disease in cattle in Spain. However, comparison of the efficacy of the existing diagnostic tools in cattle herds infected with M. caprae or M. bovis, as well as within-herd spread of each bacterial species, has never been carried out. The objective of the present study was to compare the apparent prevalence observed in M. caprae and M. bovis-infected cattle herds under field conditions to detect differences due to the etiological agent present in Castilla y León, Spain. Data from the eradication campaigns from all tuberculosis-infected cattle herds in which the presence of M. caprae had been demonstrated in the period 2004-2011 were collected. Then, the same information from one to three M. bovis-infected cattle herds that a) were located in the same local veterinary unit (LVU) and b) in which the disease had been detected in the same time frame (overlapping dates of detection±1 year), randomly selected from all herds fulfilling these two conditions, was gathered. Median incidence, total number of reactors disclosed and herd-tests needed to resolve the tuberculosis-episode were estimated at a herd/herd-test level and compared depending on the bacterial species causing the infection using non-parametric tools. Fifty-two and 125 M. caprae and M. bovis-infected herds located in the same LVUs and harboring the infection in the same period were found. In 15 out of the 12 M. caprae-infected herds M. bovis was also isolated in the same TB-episode. Median incidence of reactors and number of herd-tests needed to clear the infection were 5.3/3 and 4.15/4 for the M. caprae and M. bovis-infected herds, respectively, with no significant differences found depending on the bacterial strain implicated. These results suggest that evolution of tuberculosis outbreaks (incidence, number of reactors and duration) in cattle herds in Castilla y León is similar regardless the causative agent causing the infection. However, further analysis taking into account other factors affecting the studied parameters should be performed in order to confirm these preliminary findings

	Servicio de Micobacterias (MYC). Centro de Vigilancia Sanitaria Veterinaria (VISAVET). Universidad Complutense (UCM).
	Departamento de Sanidad Animal. Facultad de Veterinaria. Universidad Complutense (UCM).