Transmission of tuberculosis caused by Mycobacterium caprae between dairy sheep and goats

Abstract

Increasing number of caprine tuberculosis (TB) reports grant the consideration of this zoonosis as an emergingdisease that can play a role in the epidemiology of bovine TB in endemic areas. An outbreak of TB was detectedin a caprine/ovine dairy mixed herd. Tuberculin skin test positive goats and ewes were euthanized and sub-sequent postmortem investigations were performed.Mycobacterium caprae(spoligotype profile SB0157) wasisolated from tuberculous lesions detected in both sheep and goats. Ourfindings evidenced the direct trans-mission of the infection between both species elucidating that not only goats but also sheep may act as domesticreservoirs of TB compromising the eradication of TB in cattle. The results have implications for animal TBepidemiology and public health risk management.