Abstract
Paratuberculosis, a chronic and sometimes fatal disease of ruminants, is caused by Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP). In this study, we examined paratuberculosis cases among 2–4-year-old dairy cows at farms in Shandong Province, China. Paratuberculosis cases were diagnosed based on clinical symptoms, pathological autopsy, and histopathological inspection. Characteristics of paratuberculosis in the affected dairy cattle included poor body condition, persistent diarrhea, subcutaneous edema, granulomatous ileitis (multibacillary), mesenteric lymphadenitis, and hepatitis. Acid-fast bacilli from fecal specimens and lymphocytes were putatively identified as MAP based on Ziehl-Neelsen staining, then confirmed using polymerase chain reaction-based testing and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry analyses. Overall, only one MAP strain was isolated from a herd with symptomatic diarrhea. However, analysis of 586 serum samples from nine herds in Tai'an City revealed that 66.7% of herds and 14.2% of animals were seropositive for MAP. Our findings suggest that paratuberculosis is widely prevalent and therefore a significant threat to the dairy industry in Tai'an City, Shandong Province, China.
Highlights
Paratuberculosis, known as Johne’s disease, is a contagious, chronic, and sometimes fatal infection that primarily affects the small intestine of ruminants [1,2,3,4]
It is caused by Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP)
From one to several months after the onset of persistent diarrhea, the predominant symptoms displayed by infected cattle included decreased milk production and chronic progressive weight loss with chronic or intermittent diarrhea
Summary
Paratuberculosis, known as Johne’s disease, is a contagious, chronic, and sometimes fatal infection that primarily affects the small intestine of ruminants [1,2,3,4]. It is caused by Mycobacterium avium subsp. MAP has been isolated from milk and colostrum from naturally infected dairy cows [6]. The isolation of MAP from pasteurized whole milk and bovine muscle tissues is a major concern as it shows the disease could potentially be transferred to other cows and even humans [7, 8].
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