Abstract
BackgroundMali is one of the most important livestock producers of the Sahel region of Africa. A high frequency of bovine tuberculosis (BTB) has been reported but surveillance and control schemes are restricted to abattoir inspections only. The objective of this study was to conduct, for the first time, molecular characterisation of Mycobacterium bovis strains isolated from cattle slaughtered at the Bamako abattoir. Of 3330 animals screened only 60 exhibited gross visible lesions. From these animals, twenty strains of M. bovis were isolated and characterised by spoligotyping.ResultsOrgan lesions typical of BTB were most often detected in the liver, followed by the lung and the peritoneum. M. bovis was isolated from 20 animals and 7 different spoligotypes were observed among these 20 strains; three of the patterns had not been previously reported. Spoligotype patterns from thirteen of the strains lacked spacer 30, a characteristic common in strains of M. bovis found in Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria. However, unlike the other three Central African countries, the majority of spoligotype patterns observed in Mali also lacked spacer 6. Of the remaining seven strains, six had spoligotype patterns identical to strains commonly isolated in France and Spain.ConclusionTwo groups of M. bovis were detected in cattle slaughtered at the Bamako abattoir. The spoligotype pattern of the first group has similarities to strains previously observed in Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria. The additional absence of spacer 6 in the majority of these strains suggests a Mali specific clone. The spoligotype patterns of the remaining strains suggest that they may have been of European origin.
Highlights
Mali is one of the most important livestock producers of the Sahel region of Africa
Variable number of tandem repeat (VNTR) typing using the exact tandem repeats (ETR) A-F described by Frothingham et al [24] allowed to further differentiate strains with the most frequent spoligotype patterns SB0300 and SB0134
Only VNTR loci ETR A, B and C showed variation; ETR D, E and F profiles were identical in all the strains
Summary
A high frequency of bovine tuberculosis (BTB) has been reported but surveillance and control schemes are restricted to abattoir inspections only. Of 3330 animals screened only 60 exhibited gross visible lesions From these animals, twenty strains of M. bovis were isolated and characterised by spoligotyping. Bovine Tuberculosis (BTB) is considered a neglected and poverty related zoonosis [1] It has a major economic impact on livestock productivity [2], can persist in wildlife reservoirs and affect entire ecosystems [3] and it is of public health concern due to its zoonotic potential [4,5,6]. The Sahel region of Africa is extremely important in terms of animal production with Mali being amongst the principal cattle producing countries [10,11]. In a recent prevalence study in dairy cattle herds from the peri-urban region of Bamako, 19% of the animals reacted positively to the comparative tuberculin skin test [12]
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