Investigation article published in Journal of Clinical Microbiology

January 1^st, 1995

Mycobacterium bovis is a slowly growing microorganism, and confirmation of the diagnosis by conventional culture is a lengthy process. A simple, rapid method for the extraction of DNA from bovine tissue samples was developed and used in a PCR designed for the diagnosis of tuberculosis. Tissues from 81 cattle from tuberculosis-infected herds (group 1) and 19 cattle from tuberculosis-free herds (group 2) were tested in this PCR, and the results were compared with those of conventional culture. The PCR assay detected 71.4% of the culture-positive animals from group 1. Tissue from all animals in group 2 were negative in the PCR assay and by culture. The described method could be used as a rapid screening technique which would be complementary to culture of tissue specimens for the routine diagnosis of bovine tuberculosis. The PCR technique is much faster than culture and reduces the time for diagnosis from several months to 2 days. It also provides for the detection of M. bovis when rapidly growing Mycobacterium spp. are present in the sample and may be able to detect the presence of M. bovis in samples even when organisms have become nonviable

Liebana E., Aranaz A., Mateos A., Vilafranca M., Gomez-Mampaso E., Tercero JC., Alemany J., Suarez G., Domingo M. and Dominguez L..

Simple and rapid detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex organisms in bovine tissue samples by PCR

Simple and rapid detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex organisms in bovine tissue samples by PCR

	Departamento de Sanidad Animal. Facultad de Veterinaria. Universidad Complutense (UCM).
	Servicio de Micobacterias (MYC). Centro de Vigilancia Sanitaria Veterinaria (VISAVET). Universidad Complutense (UCM).
	Departamento de Patología y Producciones Animales. Facultad de Veterinaria. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB).
	Servicio de Microbiología. Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal. Salud Madrid. Comunidad de Madrid.