The transmission and impact of paratuberculosis infection in domestic and wild ruminants

Abstract

Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (M. paratuberculosis) infects domestic cattle, sheep, goats, deer, camelids and wild ruminants leading to chronic enteritis known as paratuberculosis (Johne’s disease). The infection is chronic, progressive and unresponsive to treatment. Most infected animals do not develop clinical disease but may excrete the bacteria. Clinically sick animals suffer emaciation and in some species diarrhoea, followed by eventual death. During the course of the disease, excretion of M. paratuberculosis in faeces and milk occurs, and the organism spreads through the blood and lymph vessels of infected animals to multiple internal organs. The infection disseminates to both the female and male reproductive organs. Though M. paratuberculosis is not classified as a human pathogen, current opinions on the possible role of this mycobacteria in public health is discussed. This article attempts to review the ways and circumstances by which M. paratuberculosis is transmitted within an animal population and the importance of the disease on animal production. Published reports concerning the transmission and epidemiology of the disease are reviewed herein, and preventive and control measures are summarised.

Veterinary meat inspection of bovine carcasses in the Czech Republic during the period of 1995-2002

“…Considerable increase in the numbers of cases when bovine carcasses were condemned because of lesions due to paratuberculosis (index 4.62) is alarming. This disease may become a serious problem, as it can be concluded from the papers by Pavlik et al (2000), Ayele et al (2001), and Fischer et al (2001).…”

Detection of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in Two Brown Bears in the Central European Carpathians

“…Paratuberculosis, or Johne's disease, is a specific infectious granulomatous enteritis of domestic and wild ruminants (Ayele et al, 2001;Machackova et al, 2004) caused by facultatively anaerobic intracellular acid-fast rods (AFRs) of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis. Paratuberculosis is mainly a subclinical infection with a protracted incubation period.…”

“…Paratuberculosis is mainly a subclinical infection with a protracted incubation period. The major clinical signs of the disease in ruminants (particularly in cattle and red deer) are chronic diarrhea and progressive afebrile weight loss that consequently leads to emaciation (Ayele et al, 2001). Factors that increase the likelihood of acquiring the disease are stress, nonbalanced diets, intercurrent infections, parasitic diseases and others.…”

Grass silage contaminated with Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP): a possible source of paratuberculosis infection in ruminants?

“…paratuberculosis (MAP) is the causative agent of paratuberculosis (Johne's disease) in ruminants. MAP infects many species of domestic and wild ruminants (Hirsh and Biberstein, 2004;Kopecna et al, 2008), in which its distribution is worldwide (Ayele et al, 2001). MAP can be shed in high amounts in the faeces of infected individuals and is also found in colostrum and milk.…”

“…Due to severe economic losses in affected herds (Hasonova and Pavlik, 2006), paratuberculosis is acknowledged as one of the most important disease of ruminants in developed countries today (Ayele et al, 2001). The prevalence of the disease varies and reaches up to an 84.7% MAP positivity in dairy herds in some parts of Germany (Hacker et al, 2004).…”