Bovine tuberculosis in Bosnia and Herzegovina caused by Mycobacterium caprae

Bovine tuberculosis is a chronic disease of a zoonotic character that occurs in cattle and a wide range of domestic and wild animals. In this paper, bovine tuberculosis caused by M. caprae in six small household herds in Bosnia and Herzegovina was described. For the identifi cation of the disease and determination of the causative agent comparative tuberculin skin test (TST), pathomorphology, microbiology and molecular methods were applied. Twenty-eight cows from fi ve households from the Livno region (25/28 animals) and one household from the Vitez region (3/28 animals) were euthanized after being found positive by the comparative TST test. Eleven animals from fi ve households from the Livno region (9/11 animals) and one household from the Vitez region (2/11 animals) were subject to fi eld necropsy, and lesions consistent with tuberculosis were observed on the lymph nodes of the thoracic cavity and lungs in all carcasses. Histopathologic examination by hematoxylin and eosin staining confi rmed the presence of specifi c granulomatous lesions, while Ziehl- Neelsen staining demonstrated the presence of very few acid fast bacteria. Mediastinal lymph nodes from seven necropsied animals (two animals from the Vitez region and fi ve animals from fi ve fl ocks from the Livno region) were submitted for bacteriology. Acid fast bacteria from fi ve out of the seven submitted samples from one animal from the Vitez region and four animals from four households from the Livno region were isolated. All isolates were identifi ed as M. caprae. By MIRU typing we found two different M. caprae genotypes, unique to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Our fi ndings represent the fi rst evidence of bovine tuberculosis caused by M. caprae in Bosnia and Herzegovina.