1 2 Infection of Eurasian badgers (Meles meles) with Mycobacterium bovis 3 and Mycobacterium avium complex in Spain 4 Ana Balseiro a,⇑ , Oscar Rodríguez b , Pablo González-Quirós c , Isabel Merediz d , Iker A. Sevilla e , Dipesh Davé f , 5 Deanna J. Dalley f , Sandrine Lesellier f , Mark A. Chambers f , Javier Bezos g , Marta Muñoz h , 6 Richard J. Delahay i , Christian Gortázar b , José M. Prieto a 7 a SERIDA, Servicio Regional de Investigación y Desarrollo Agroalimentario, Centro de Biotecnología Animal, 33394 Deva-Gijón, Asturias, Spain 8 b IREC (CSIC – UCLM – JCCM), Ronda de Toledo s/n, 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain 9 c BIOGESTIÓN, Coronel Aranda 7 5°, 33005 Oviedo, Asturias, Spain 10 d Laboratorio de Sanidad Animal del Principado de Asturias, Travesía del hospital 96, 33299 Gijón, Asturias, Spain 11 e NEIKER, Instituto Vasco de Investigación y Desarrollo Agrario, 48160 Derio, Bizkaia, Spain 12 f TB Research Group, Department of Bacteriology, Veterinary Laboratories Agency Weybridge, Woodham Lane, New Haw, Addlestone, Surrey KT15 3NB, United Kingdom 13 g VISAVET Health Surveillance Centre and Facultad de Veterinaria (Departamento de Sanidad Animal), Universidad Complutense, Avda, Puerta de Hierro s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain 14 h Consejería de Medio Rural, Edificio Administrativo San Caetano, 15781 Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña, Spain 15 i Wildlife and Emerging Diseases Programme, The Food and Environment Research Agency, Sand Hutton, York YO41 1LZ, United Kingdom 16 18 article info 19 Article history: 20 Accepted 14 April 2011 21 Available online xxxx 22 Keywords: 23 Badger 24 Meles meles 25 Mycobacterium bovis 26 Mycobacterium avium complex 27 Tuberculosis 28 Spain 29 30 abstract 31 The prevalence, distribution and pathology related to infection with Mycobacterium bovis and other 32 mycobacteria were determined in trapped (n = 36) and road-killed (n = 121) badgers in Spain from 33 2006 to 2010. The prevalence of M. bovis based on bacteriological culture from road-killed badgers 34 was 8/121 (6.6%) and from trapped badgers was 0/36 (0%). Tuberculosis/M. bovis infection was evident 35 in 15/121 (12.4%) road-killed badgers when bacteriology and histopathology were combined. 36 Mycobacterium avium complex was isolated by culture from the tracheal aspirate of 1/36 (2.8%) trapped 37 badgers and from tissue pools from 8/121 (6.6%) road-killed badgers. 38 Ó 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. 39 40 41 Introduction 42 The Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTC; M. tuberculosis, 43 M. bovis, M. caprae, M. pinnipedii, M. africanum and M. microti) 44 causes disease in humans and domestic and wild animals (Grange 45 et al., 1990; Aranaz et al., 1999). Control of bovine tuberculosis (Tb) 46 in cattle can be compromised in areas where a reservoir of infec- 47 tion exists in wildlife. In the United Kingdom (UK) and Republic 48 of Ireland (RoI), Eurasian badgers (Meles meles) are involved in 49 the transmission of M. bovis to cattle (Bourne et al., 2007; Murphy 50 et al., 2010). 51 The first case of bovine Tb (M. bovis) in a Spanish badger was 52 identified in 2003 in Cabañeros National Park in Central Spain 53 (Sobrino et al., 2008). M. bovis was also isolated from lymph nodes 54 of a badger from sxLeón in Northern Spain in 1997 (J.F. García 55 Marín, personal communication). In Doñana National Park in 56 Southern Spain, 23% of badgers were seropositive (Martín-Atance 57 et al., 2006). Elsewhere in continental Europe, M. bovis infection 58 in badgers has been confirmed only in France, with a prevalence 59 of 7.2% (Hars et al., 2010). 60 Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) spp. were detected by 61 culture of tissues from 7.4% of badgers in Spain and 0.5% of badgers 62 in the UK (Balseiro et al., 2011). M. avium paratuberculosis (Map) 63 has been isolated from the intestine and mesenteric lymph nodes 64 of a badger in Scotland (Beard et al., 2001). M. intracellulare was 65 isolated from the faeces of two badgers in Ireland (Hughes et al., 66 1993) and from tissues of a badger in Spain (Sevilla et al., 2005). 67 In this study we present data on the prevalence, distribution and 68 pathology of M. bovis and other mycobacteria from trapped and 69 road-killed badgers in Spain. 70 Materials and methods 71 Collection of samples 72 Road-killed badgers 73 From 2006 to 2010, postmortem examinations were performed on 121 badgers 74 (10 cubs and 111 adults; 57 males and 64 females) killed on roads in Spain, mostly 75 from Northern Spain, with smaller numbers from Southern Spain (Fig. 1). Samples 76 of the lungs, intestine and retropharyngeal, submandibular, tracheobronchial, 1090-0233/$ - see front matter Ó 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. doi:10.1016/j.tvjl.2011.04.012 ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 984502010. E-mail address: abalseiro@serida.org (A. Balseiro). Q1 The Veterinary Journal xxx (2011) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect The Veterinary Journal journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tvjl YTVJL 2945 No. of Pages 6, Model 5G 12 May 2011 Please cite this article in press as: Balseiro, A., et al. Infection of Eurasian badgers (Meles meles) with Mycobacterium bovis and Mycobacterium avium com- plex in Spain. The Veterinary Journal (2011), doi:10.1016/j.tvjl.2011.04.012