Logo image
Back
An outbreak of tuberculosis in endangered northern pig-tailed macaques (Macaca leonina) and milu deer (Elaphurus davidianus) from a zoo in China
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

An outbreak of tuberculosis in endangered northern pig-tailed macaques (Macaca leonina) and milu deer (Elaphurus davidianus) from a zoo in China

Y. Chen, Y. Yan, Y. Gao, Y. Li, K. Zhang, M. Zhou, L. Sun, Y. Wang, I. D. Robertson and A. Guo
Veterinary medicine and science, Vol.9(2), pp.992-998
2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/vms3.1014
PMID: 36626281
pdf
Published3.28 MBDownloadView
CC BY-NC-ND V4.0,  Open Access

Abstract

milu deer northern pig-tailed macaque zoo tuberculosis
Background Tuberculosis (TB) is a zoonotic disease that affects humans and domesticated and wild animals. Animals in zoos are potentially an important source of TB for humans; however they are often neglected in routine disease surveillance programs. This investigation reports an outbreak of TB in milu deer and northern pig-tailed macaques in a zoo in Wuhan, China, which highlighted the need for improved prevention and control of TB in China. Methods Between 24 November and 9 December 2020 two milu deer and a northern pig-tailed macaque that were displaying signs of wasting died. Post-mortem, histopathological diagnosis and acid fast staining were used for the dead animals. Multiple PCR for Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) was performed to identify the bacterial in both milu deer and northern pig-tailed macaque. The serum antibody iELISA for MTBC was then performed for all the surviving milu deer and northern pig-tailed macaques. Six seropositive milu deer and a seropositive northern pig-tailed macaque were subsequently euthanised and, along with two other dead milu deer, necropsied. DNA from these tissue samples was extracted and detected MTBC using PCR and Real-time PCR. Subsequently bacterial isolation was used to confirm the infection. Results The lungs of the dead animals displayed gross and histological TB-like lesions and changes, and red staining bacilli were detected in smears of the lesions by microscopy after acid fast staining. Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis) was detected in the two milu deer and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb) in the northern pig-tailed macaque using multiple PCR for MTBC. 35.3% surviving milu deer and 50% surviving northern pig-tailed macaques MTBC serologically positive. Six of the euthanised milu deer were also positive on a DNA test for M. bovis and the euthanised northern pig-tailed macaque was positive to M. tb. Conclusions This is the first report of tuberculosis in the endangered species, milu deer and northern pig-tailed macaques, in China, and warrants urgent attention by researchers and conservation authorities. These cases highlight the need for expanding surveillance for MTBC to zoos in China.

Details

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#15 Life on Land

Metrics

2 File views/ downloads
72 Record Views
2 Times Cited - Web of Science

InCites Highlights

These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output

Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
International collaboration
Citation topics
1 Clinical & Life Sciences
1.194 Tuberculosis & Leprosy
1.194.273 TB Diagnostics & Treatment
Web Of Science research areas
Veterinary Sciences
ESI research areas
Plant & Animal Science
Logo image