SHORT COMMUNICATION Mycobacteria species in wild mammals of the Pantanal of central South America Letícia Alves Gomes Albertti & Antonio Francisco Souza-Filho & Antônio Augusto Fonseca-Júnior & Michele Eduardo Freitas & Aiesca de Oliveira-Pellegrin & Namor Pinheiro Zimmermann & Walfrido Moraes Tomás & Igor Alexandre Hany Fuzeta Schabib Péres & Isabella Fontana & Ana Luiza Alves Rosa Osório Received: 6 May 2014 /Revised: 16 August 2014 /Accepted: 24 September 2014 /Published online: 14 October 2014 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014 Abstract Bovine tuberculosis is a chronic disease of econom- ic importance in livestock, but may also infect wild animals and occasionally humans. Its principal infective agent is Mycobac- terium bovis. The present study was undertaken to examine the possible involvement of wildlife in the M. bovis life cycle in the Pantanal and to assess their potential role as a wild animal reservoir for this disease. DNA samples were obtained from 14 wild animals, namely 4 pampas deer ( Ozotoceros bezoarticus), 9 feral pigs (Sus scrofa), and 1 coati (Nasua nasua). A region of the hsp65 gene, present in all mycobacteria, was amplified and seven species of Mycobacterium were iden- tified. Mycobacterium avium was present in 50 % of the samples and in all three animal species. Unsurprisingly, several non-tuberculosis mycobacteria species, such as Mycobacteri- um saskatchewanense, Mycobacterium parafinicum, and My- cobacterium parascrofulaceum were also detected. One sample from a deer exhibited high sequence similarity to M. bovis reference strains, which was confirmed through analysis using a 24-locus MIRU-VNTR genotyping. The results highlight the need for targeted M. bovis surveillance. Keywords Mycobacterium bovis . Tuberculosis Pantanal . South America . Wildlife reservoir . Ozotoceros bezoarticus . Sus scrofa . Nasua nasua Communicated by C. Gortázar Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10344-014-0866-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. L. A. G. Albertti (*) : A. F. Souza-Filho : A. de Oliveira-Pellegrin : N. Zimmermann : I. A. H. F. S. Péres : A. L. A. R. Osório Laboratório de Micobacteriologia e Biologia Molecular, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Cidade Universitária, Campo Grande, MS CEP 79.070-900, Brazil e-mail: lealbertti@yahoo.com.br A. F. Souza-Filho e-mail: antoniosouzafilho@gmail.com A. de Oliveira-Pellegrin e-mail: aiesca@cpap.embrapa.br N. Zimmermann e-mail: namorpz@hotmail.com I. A. H. F. S. Péres e-mail: igorale_vet@hotmail.com A. L. A. R. Osório e-mail: ana.osorio@ufms.br A. A. Fonseca-Júnior : M. E. Freitas Laboratório Nacional Agropecuário, Campo Grande, Minas Gerais, Brazil A. A. Fonseca-Júnior e-mail: antonio.a.fonsecajr@gmail.com M. E. Freitas e-mail: micheleefreitas@yahoo.com.br A. de Oliveira-Pellegrin : W. M. Tomás : I. A. H. F. S. Péres Embrapa Pantanal, Corumbá, MS, Brazil W. M. Tomás e-mail: walfrido.tomas@embrapa.br I. Fontana Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil e-mail: isabellavet@yahoo.com.br Eur J Wildl Res (2015) 61:163–166 DOI 10.1007/s10344-014-0866-4