J Vet Sci.  2018 Jan;19(1):45-50. 10.4142/jvs.2018.19.1.45.

Investigation of bovine tuberculosis outbreaks by using a trace-back system and molecular typing in Korean Hanwoo beef cattle

• Ku BK
• Jeon BY
• Kim JM
• Jang YB
• Lee H
• Choi JY
• Jung SC
• Nam HM
• Park H
• Cho SN

• KMID: 2402694
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4142/jvs.2018.19.1.45

Abstract

Bovine tuberculosis is a chronic contagious disease responsible for major agricultural economic losses. Abattoir monitoring and trace-back systems are an appropriate method to control bovine tuberculosis, particularly in beef cattle. In the present study, a trace-back system was applied to bovine tuberculosis cases in Korean native Hanwoo beef cattle. Bovine tuberculosis was detected in three index beef cattle during abattoir monitoring in Jeonbuk Province, Korea, and the original herds were traced back from each index cow. All cattle in each original herd were subjected to tuberculin skin test. The positive rates in the tuberculin skin test were 64.6% (62 of 96), 4.8% (2 of 42), and 8.1% (3 of 37) at farms A, B, and C, respectively. On post-mortem examination of 56 tuberculin-positive cattle, 62% had granulomatous lesions, and Mycobacterium bovis was cultured from 40 (71.4%) of the cattle. Molecular typing by spoligotyping and the mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit-variable-number tandem repeat assay revealed the genotype of the M. bovis strains from the index cattle were same as the M. bovis genotype in each original herd. The results suggest that tracing back from index cattle to the original herd is an effective method to control bovine tuberculosis in beef cattle.

Keyword

Korean Hanwoo beef cattle; bovine tuberculosis; index beef cattle; molecular typing; track-back system

MeSH Terms

Abattoirs
Agriculture
Animals
Autopsy
Cattle*
Disease Outbreaks*
Genotype
Jeollabuk-do
Korea
Methods
Molecular Typing*
Mycobacterium bovis
Red Meat*
Skin Tests
Tandem Repeat Sequences
Tuberculin
Tuberculosis, Bovine*
Tuberculin

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 Visible lesions in and Ziehl-Neelsen staining of the retropharyngeal lymph node of a beef cow. (A) Visible lesion showing caseous granuloma in a lymph node from a beef cow. (B) Ziehl-Neelsen stained portion of a lymph node showing acid-fast bacilli in a granuloma. 400× (B).

• 

  Fig. 2 Genetic relationships among the Mycobacterium bovis strains from beef cattle. The dendrogram is based on spoligotyping and MIRU-VNTR genotypes and created using the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic averages algorithm. MIRU-VNTR, mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit-variable-number tandem repeat. *M. bovis strains from the index beef cattle.

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