Category Archives: Growth Factor Receptors

Tuberculosis (TB) in elephants is a re-emerging zoonotic disease caused primarily

Tuberculosis (TB) in elephants is a re-emerging zoonotic disease caused primarily by and a single was in an African elephant with from trunk washes. (giraffes, rhinoceroses, and buffaloes), which were found to have been infected by four different strains of (13). In zoos and circuses, TB is more frequently recognized in Asian elephants (in 1996, the National Tuberculosis Working Group for AT13387 Zoo and Wildlife Species was founded to develop the best strategy of disease control for a variety of exotic animals. As a result, through the concerted effort of this group in conjunction with the United States AT13387 Division of Agriculture (USDA), the were developed in 1997 (updated in 2000 and 2003). The guidelines include TB screening protocols and recommendations for antimicrobial therapy (25). The only USDA-recommended diagnostic test for TB in elephants is definitely mycobacterial tradition of trunk wash samples. However, there is a growing body of evidence indicating that this method of analysis has poor level of sensitivity, as it can only identify animals with extensive dropping of the organism that typically happens late in the course of disease. Recent efforts to identify acceptable alternatives for antemortem detection of TB in elephants using traditional techniques (i.e., tuberculin pores and skin test) have been unsuccessful (13, 23). In contrast, antibody-based tests appear encouraging, but improved platforms and antigenic focuses on are needed (12, 31). Multiantigen print immunoassay (MAPIA) was developed as an efficient tool for the recognition of seroreactive antigens in human being TB (17). More recently, this method was used to determine antigen acknowledgement patterns in cattle, white-tailed deer, reindeer, and Western badgers infected with (9, 18, 33, 34). In the present study, we used MAPIA to characterize antigen acknowledgement profiles and AT13387 kinetics of immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody reactions to a panel of 12 defined AT13387 antigens of and in sera from elephants with culture-confirmed TB. Serial serum samples collected before, during, and after treatment were tested. In addition, a rapid test (RT) for TB in elephants (ElephantTB STAT-PAK kit) was developed using lateral-flow technology and selected recombinant antigens. With the limited quantity of elephants tested, the RT showed the potential DCHS2 to be a simple and useful screening assay for early detection of TB in elephants, while MAPIA exhibited an added potential for monitoring of treatment and prediction of relapse. MATERIALS AND METHODS Animals and disease status. Five feminine elephants (L, C, K, N, and I) which range from 30 to 47 years from different places in america were identified as having TB by mycobacterial lifestyle between 1997 and 2000. Desk ?Desk11 summarizes epidemiologic, diagnostic, and treatment data for these animals. Two of these (L and C) acquired a brief history of contact with based on trunk washes, and one African elephant (N) was lifestyle positive for at necropsy. The four Asian elephants had been treated with antimycobacterial substances for 12 to 20 a few months, whereas the African elephant didn’t receive therapy, as the medical diagnosis was produced postmortem. Two from the treated pets, L and K, received therapy following the preliminary training course frequently, as they created positive civilizations of in posttreatment follow-up trunk clean examining. Disease was verified postmortem by lifestyle and histopathology evaluation in the neglected African elephant contaminated with and two from the four treated Asian elephants contaminated with and various other mycobacteria was performed on the Country wide Veterinary Providers Laboratories (Ames, IA) relative to (25). The task for collecting triple trunk clean examples was.