Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis – DRAFT risk assessment related to exposure via food

1. MAP is a multi-host pathogen and has been isolated from a variety of wild and domesticated animals (Verma, 2013). MAP commonly infects dairy cattle, leading to Johne’s disease, which is also known as paratuberculosis. The infection is chronic, progressive, and incurable (Collins, 1997). Paratuberculosis affects domesticated and wild ruminants including those used in food production mainly cattle, but also sheep and goats. There are few published cases of MAP infection in pigs but the first such report was by Miranda et al., (2014) where MAP infection occurred in four domestic pigs. Although successful experimental infection with MAP in poultry has been reported, there have been no cases to date where MAP has been associated with avian tuberculosis (Dhama et al., 2011).