Journal of Microbiology & Experimentation Molecular Identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Transmission between Cattle and Man: A Case Report Submit Manuscript | http://medcraveonline.com Volume 3 Issue 3 - 2016 Ibrahim S 1 *, Abubakar UB 1 , Danbirni S 1 , Usman A 1 , Ballah FM 2 , Kudi AC 1 , Loveth L 3 , Abdulrazak H 4 and Abdulkadir IA 1 1 Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria 2 Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Usmanu Danfodio University, Nigeria 3 Department of Community Medicine, Bingham University, Karu, Nigeria 4 Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Bayero University, Nigeria *Corresponding author: Ibrahim S, Dept of Veterinary Medicine, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria, E-mail: Received: November 27, 2016 | Published: April 12, 2016 Research Article J Microbiol Exp 2016, 3(3): 00091 Abstract This study described a case of transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection from a man to cattle confirmed by using Bioline® and multiplex PCR known as Genotype® MTBC Kit. A dairy farm was screened using caudal fold intradermal tuberculin test, and a heifer reacted positively to the bovine tuberculin but showed no gross pathological lesions at slaughter. The cattle attendant was also diagnosed with active pulmonary TB infection as a smear positive in the hospital. The attendant’s sputum and the heifer’s bronchial as well as mandibular and submandibular lymph nodes were collected, processed and cultured. The isolates obtained were analyzed using Bioline® as well as Genotype MTBC analyses. The results showed that both the attendant’s sputum as well as the lymph nodes yielded Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This is the first case of human to cattle transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the study area as confirmed by using Bioline® techniques and Genotype® MTBC. Keywords: M. tuberculosis; M. bovis; Bioline; genotype MTBC; Tuberculin test Introduction Tuberculosis (TB) is among the diseases that have threatened the health and lives of people, and animals in the past century, causing mortality, morbidity and economic losses [1,2]. In Nigeria bTB (bovine tuberculosis) occurrence is on the increase as a result of lack of any National Control Program [3]. Bovine tb (bTB) represents a major problem in terms of epidemiology, especially in countries where there is no control programs like Nigeria. It is a significant veterinary disease that can occasionally spread to humans [4]. In contrast, Mycobacterium tuberculosis is considered primarily a human pathogen. Among domestic animals, infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis has been most frequently identified in cattle [5]. According to published data, the prevalence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in cattle herds did not exceed 1% in the majority of studies [4,6,7]. However, a few exceptions, like Algeria and Sudan with 6.2% and 7.4% prevalence, respectively, were also described [8] as a most probable consequence of the high prevalence of human TB in these two African countries. Current knowledge has shown that, Mycobacterium tuberculosis does not appear to have an indigenous animal host of reservoir and the animals that become infected represent most probably accidental hosts [7,5]. Although, it has never been directly proved yet, human suffering from active TB are strongly believed to represent the main source of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in animal, including cattle [5,7,9]. To the best of our knowledge, we described in this report, the first transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from human to cattle unequivocally confirmed by molecular analysis of isolates involved in the transmission. For the molecular analysis Bioline® was used, which has recently become a worldwide standard technique for the differentiation of the genus Mycobacteria into Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and Non tuberculous Mycobacteria. Although Mycobacterium tuberculosis in cattle most frequently produces a quickly vanishing infection rather than a progressive disease, the infected animal do react positively when challenged with tuberculin [10,11]. The duration of sensitization to tuberculin is usually short, and the reactivity disappears when the infection source is removed [12]. Thus, when a tuberculin-positive animal is recognized during a routine tuberculin testing for the first time, and particularly when the tuberculin-positive animal is young, the possibility of human TB infection among farm workers or animal attendants should be considered. As reported by several authors [13-15], animal attendants with active pulmonary TB represent an important source of Mycobacterium tuberculosis for animals, spreading the mycobacteria via urine, sputum, or feces [5]. As a result of such spreading, the classical form of TB occasionally develops in animals living in close contact with humans with active TB [11]. In this report, we describe a case of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection from human to cattle, confirmed by a modern molecular methods (Bioline® analysis), techniques that identify and differentiate the genus into Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and Non tuberculous Mycobacteria and also the Genotype® MTBC analysis which differentiate the complex into various species.