Rational discovery of novel immunodiagnostic and vaccine candidate antigens to control bovine tuberculosis (bTB) requires knowledge of disease immunopathogenesis. However, there remains a paucity of information on the Mycobacterium bovis-host immune interactions during the natural infection. Analysis of 247 naturally PPD+ M. bovis-infected cattle revealed that 92% (n = 228) of these animals wer...

Mycobacterium bovis BCG, a live attenuated strain of M. bovis initially developed as a vaccine against tuberculosis, is also used as an adjuvant for immunotherapy of cancers and for treatment of parasitic infections. The underlying mechanisms are thought to rely on its immunomodulatory properties including the recruitment of natural killer (NK) cells. In that context, we aimed to study the impa...

The recent publication of the genome sequence of Mycobacterium bovis showed >99.95% identity to M. tuberculosis. No genes unique to M. bovis were found. Instead numerous single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified. This has led to the hypothesis that differential gene expression due to SNPs might explain the differences between the human and bovine tubercle bacilli. One phenotypic di...

Bovine tuberculosis is still prevalent and under-evaluated in cattle destined for human consumption in Cameroon. Potential reservoirs of the disease include livestock imported from countries endemic for bovine tuberculosis, such as Nigeria and Chad, and potential residual reservoirs in local livestock and wildlife. Few studies have been done in Cameroon to genotype the Mycobacterium tuberculosi...

The Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) includes M. tuberculosis, M. bovis, M. bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG, the vaccine strain), M. africanum, and M. microti. Mycobacterium tuberculosis causes the majority of tuberculosis (TB) cases in humans; however, in several regions of the world, especially in a country with high prevalence of HIV infection, human TB caused by M. bovis may be...

The aim of this study was to compare protection by bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination against aerosol challenge with either Mycobacterium bovis or Mycobacterium tuberculosis in guinea pigs. Animals were challenged 5 weeks after vaccination with 10 or 100 lung lesion-forming units (lfu) of M. bovis or M. tuberculosis. Four weeks after challenge, numbers of lung lesions and counts of viabl...

Mycobacterium bovis is naturally resistant to the antituberculosis drug pyrazinamide (PZA). To determine whether all Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex isolates demonstrating PZA monoresistance were truly M. bovis, we examined the phenotype and genotype of isolates reported as PZA monoresistant in five counties in California from January 1996 through June 1999. Isolates reported by local labora...

Bovine tuberculosis caused by Mycobacterium bovis remains a significant disease of farmed cattle in many countries despite ongoing tuberculosis eradication programs. Molecular typing methods such as restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis and spoligotyping have been used to identify related herd breakdowns in an attempt to identify more precisely the route of infection into cat...

ABST RACT Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis) infection in cattle remains a major zoonotic and economic problem in many countries. In addition, M. bovis is an important pathogen of both man and animals. The standard diagnostic test for this disease is the intradermal tuberculin test, one of the oldest immunological tests still in widespread use. However, this test can lack both sensitivity and speci...

Tuberculosis due to Mycobacterium bovis affects both captive and free-ranging Cervidae in the United States. Various animal models have been developed to study tuberculosis of both humans and animals. Generally, tuberculosis is transmitted by aerosol and oral routes. Models of aerosol exposure of large animals to M. bovis are uncommon. In order to develop a reliable method of aerosol exposure o...