Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis: An Emerging Bacterial Disease of Global Public Health Significance

Abstract

Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) is the etiological agent of chronic enteric disease of ruminant known as paratuberculosis (Johne's disease). The disease causes considerable economic losses worldwide due to reduced milk production and eventually, diarrhoea, weight loss and death. Johne's disease (JD) has some pathological similarities with Crohn's disease (CD)in humans, and the role of MAP in the causation of CD has been under investigation for last 100 years. Animals infected with JD shed viable MAP in the blood, and tissues.Consequently, transmission to humans may occur via consumption of animal derived foods. In developing countries, limited information is available on the occurrence of MAP infection in animals and humans. MAP infection has been established in animals and humans may get the MAP exposure through food chain or contaminated environment. Presently, MAP is of great public health significance because it is speculated to be involved in Crohn's disease in humans. The present review summarizes the information primarily on the nature of MAP in animals and humans, economic losses and morbidity and mortality due to JD and CD at global level. Current concept on the possible relationship between MAP and Crohn's disease has also been reviewed.

Paratuberculosis Cases in the Livestock Industry in Nigeria: A Review

“…Due to its fastidious nature, colonies take at least eight (8) weeks to appear when isolated on a media (Pal et al, 2015;Okuni et al, 2020). Colony growth can be observed on Herrold's egg yolk medium (HEYM) (Pal et al, 2015;Okuni et al, 2020;OIE, 2021;Idris et al, 2022), modified Lowenstein-Jensen media (Valentin-Weigand & Goethe 1999;Singh et al, 2018;Idris et al, 2022), Middlebrook agar; 7H9, 7H10, 7H11, 7H12 Bactec (Ristow et al, 2006;Okuni et al, 2020;OIE, 2021;Ssekitoleko et al, 2021), Watson-Reid agar (Cocito et al, 1994;Valentin-Weigand and Goethe 1999), modified Dubos's medium (OIE, 2021).…”

“…Due to its fastidious nature, colonies take at least eight (8) weeks to appear when isolated on a media (Pal et al, 2015;Okuni et al, 2020). Colony growth can be observed on Herrold's egg yolk medium (HEYM) (Pal et al, 2015;Okuni et al, 2020;OIE, 2021;Idris et al, 2022), modified Lowenstein-Jensen media (Valentin-Weigand & Goethe 1999;Singh et al, 2018;Idris et al, 2022), Middlebrook agar; 7H9, 7H10, 7H11, 7H12 Bactec (Ristow et al, 2006;Okuni et al, 2020;OIE, 2021;Ssekitoleko et al, 2021), Watson-Reid agar (Cocito et al, 1994;Valentin-Weigand and Goethe 1999), modified Dubos's medium (OIE, 2021). Due to the failure of MAP to synthesize mycobactin (iron chelating compound), most of these growth media are enriched externally with mycobactin (Manning & Collins, 2001;Grant, 2005;Radostits et al, 2006;Idris et al, 2022) needed for MAP growth, a distinctive feature that differentiates it from other Mycobacteria (Grant, 2005;Okuni et al, 2020).…”

“…Mycobactin and exochelin are two types of siderophores that aid in chelating iron from an organic source (Cocito et al, 1994). In addition to fecal and tissue culture being considered as "gold standard" for the diagnosis of paratuberculosis (Olsen et al, 2002;Pal et al, 2015;Gupta et al, 2019), a direct stain of fecal and tissue impression slides have been used in identifying the agent. However, neither method is sensitive and specific for M. a. ptb as distinguishing it from non-pathogenic mycobacteria can be challenging (Bakker et al, 2000;Manning & Collins, 2001;OIE, 2021;Idris et al, 2022).…”

“…The disease commences as a localized infection that may become generalized and leads to chronic granulomatous enteritis characterized by weight loss, diarrhea, reduction in milk, meat or wool production, emaciation, submandibular edema, and death (Whittington et al, 2019;Okuni et al, 2020). ParaTB is endemic worldwide, frequently occurring in cattle, sheep, goats, and farmed deer (Kennedy & Benedictus, 2001;Grant, 2005;Pal et al, 2015;Idris et al, 2022), and has been reported in camel (Alluwaimi, 2015). The disease has also been reported in non-ruminants, wild rabbits, foxes, stoats (Whittington & Sergeant 2001;Adhikari, 2020), and primates such as mandrills and macaques (Uzoigwe et al, 2007).…”

“…Paratuberculosis (PTB) is categorized in the Terrestrial Animal Health Code as one of the List B diseases (OIE, 2019). It has been estimated that for every clinical case of JD, four (4) to eight (8) other animals on the farm may be found positive (subclinical or asymptomatic) carries (Pal et al, 2015). In Africa and Asia, sheep/goat contributes significantly to mitigating poverty in low-income societies through the provision of milk, skin, meat, and for animal exports.…”