Please cite this article in press as: Zerom, K., et al., Tuberculosis in dromedaries in eastern Ethiopia: Abattoir-based prevalence and molecular typing of its causative agents. Small Ruminant Res. (2012), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.smallrumres.2012.07.030 ARTICLE IN PRESS G Model RUMIN-4343; No. of Pages 5 Small Ruminant Research xxx (2012) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Small Ruminant Research jou rn al h om epa ge: www. elsevier.com/locate/smallrumres Tuberculosis in dromedaries in eastern Ethiopia: Abattoir-based prevalence and molecular typing of its causative agents Kaleab Zerom a,b , Tesfaye Sisay Tessema b , Gezahegne Mamo b , Yehualashet Bayu c , Gobena Ameni a,∗ a Aklilu Lemma Institute of Pathobiology, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box 1167, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia b School of Veterinary Medicine, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box 34, Debre Zeit, Ethiopia c College of Veterinary Medicine, Haramaya University, P.O. Box 138, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 9 April 2012 Received in revised form 27 July 2012 Accepted 30 July 2012 Available online xxx Keywords: Dromedaries Ethiopia M. tuberculosis Non-tuberculosis mycobacteria Tuberculosis-compatible lesions a b s t r a c t Although tuberculosis is endemic in cattle in Ethiopia, little information is available on tuberculosis in dromedaries. Thus, this study was designed to investigate the epidemiology of tuberculosis and its causative agents in dromedaries slaughtered at four representative abattoirs in eastern Ethiopia. A total of 293 dromedaries were examined by detailed post- mortem examination and the prevalence of tuberculosis-compatible lesion (TCL) was 12.3% (36/293), and occurrence of lesion was significantly associated with female dromedaries (95% confidence interval (CI) [0.19–0.97]). Mycobacteria were isolated in 61% (22/36) of the dromedaries with gross lesions. Further characterization of the isolates using PCR showed that 68% (15/22) of the isolates were non-tuberculosis mycobacteria (NTM) while 13.6% (3/22) were Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) and 18% (4/22) were not members of the genus Mycobacterium. Spoligotyping of the three M. tuberculosis isolates revealed that one of the three isolates was SIT 21 while the remaining two isolates with octal values of 773357776763671 and 773357777763661 were not reported to the SITVIT database. The isolation of large proportion of NTM from tuberculosis-compatible lesions in dromedary is suggestive of these bacteria being pathogenic to the species, while the isolation of M. tuber- culosis from dromedary carcasses highlights the zoonotic risk represented by consuming the meat. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Tuberculosis is a chronic disease caused by bacteria of the genus Mycobacterium that affects several animal species. It is characterized by the development of tubercles in the organs of most species (FAO, 2000). The disease had long been diagnosed in dromedaries in Egypt (Littlewood, 1888) and in India (Lingard, 1905; Leese, 1908). Acid-fast ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +251 1911413073; fax: +251 1112755296. E-mail addresses: kaleabzerom@yahoo.com (K. Zerom), tesfu74@yahoo.com (T.S. Tessema), gezahegnemamo@yahoo.com (G. Mamo), yehuaba@yahoo.com (Y. Bayu), gobenachimdi2009@yahoo.co.uk (G. Ameni). organisms from lung lesions of dromedaries resembling miliary tuberculosis were isolated in 1910 by Archibald in Egypt. Members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex including M. tuberculosis (Elmossalami et al., 1971; Zubair et al., 2004), Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis) (Kinne et al., 2006; Mamo et al., 2011), and M. capre (Pate et al., 2006) and non-tuberculosis mycobacteria including M. avium, M. kansasii (Elmossalami et al., 1971; Strauss, 1995), M. aquae, M. fortuitum and M. smegmatis (Elmossalami et al., 1971; Wernery et al., 2002) have been isolated from tuberculosis like lesions in dromedaries. Furthermore, M. bovis strains were also isolated by Donchenko et al. (1975) in Russia from bulked samples of raw dromedary milk. As in most dry lands of Africa and Asia, in Ethiopia dromedaries are the principal source of income and food 0921-4488/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.smallrumres.2012.07.030