Evaluation of age-dependent susceptibility in calves infected with two doses of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis using pathology and tissue culture.

Rienske A R Mortier,Herman W Barkema,Karin Orsel,Oscar Illanes,Robert Wolf,Jeroen De Buck,Janet M Bystrom,Gordon Atkins

doi:10.1186/1297-9716-44-94

Abstract

The longstanding assumption that calves of more than 6 months of age are more resistant to Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) infection has recently been challenged. In order to elucidate this, a challenge experiment was performed to evaluate age- and dose-dependent susceptibility to MAP infection in dairy calves. Fifty-six calves from MAP-negative dams were randomly allocated to 10 MAP challenge groups (5 animals per group) and a negative control group (6 calves). Calves were inoculated orally on 2 consecutive days at 5 ages: 2 weeks and 3, 6, 9 or 12 months. Within each age group 5 calves received either a high – or low – dose of 5 × 109 CFU or 5 × 107 CFU, respectively. All calves were euthanized at 17 months of age. Macroscopic and histological lesions were assessed and bacterial culture was done on numerous tissue samples. Within all 5 age groups, calves were successfully infected with either dose of MAP. Calves inoculated at < 6 months usually had more culture-positive tissue locations and higher histological lesion scores. Furthermore, those infected with a high dose had more severe scores for histologic and macroscopic lesions as well as more culture-positive tissue locations compared to calves infected with a low dose. In conclusion, calves to 1 year of age were susceptible to MAP infection and a high infection dose produced more severe lesions than a low dose.

Highlights

Paratuberculosis or Johne’s disease (JD) is a chronic enteritis of ruminants caused by Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP)
The proportion of calves with at least one culture-positive tissue was similar in the 5 age groups, ranging from 40-70% (P = 0.82) and the proportion of tissue culture-positive calves did not decrease with increasing age at inoculation (Table 1)
In all age and dose groups at least one calf had a positive sample for tissue culture, macroscopic lesions or histology

Summary

Introduction

Paratuberculosis or Johne’s disease (JD) is a chronic enteritis of ruminants caused by Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP). Interpretation and comparison of the results of these studies is hindered by the low number of animals per experiment, the variety of infection doses and routes of infection used, incomplete information regarding animal housing and the variation in diagnostics used to confirm infection [12]. For this reason, proposed international guidelines were designed in order to standardize and simplify interpretation of infection experiments [13]

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