Review on Molecular and Conventional Diagnostic Techniques of Bovine Tuberculosis

摘要

Bovine tuberculosis is a major infectious disease of cattle, other domesticated animals and certainwildlife populations. It is one of the zoonotic diseases and can be diagnosed with different techniques.The currently used techniques are acid fast staining which is a cost-effective tool for diagnosing tuberculosiscase and to monitor the progress of treatment and it has also drawbacks such as the low sensitivity inthe immune-suppressed individuals; Immunological diagnostic techniques like tuberculin skin tests:Single Intradermal Test, Comparative Intradermal Test, Short Thermal Test and Stormont Test; Blood baseddiagnostic techniques like gamma interferon assays, Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assays and LymphocyteProliferation Assay, Culture of Mycobacterium and Molecular diagnostic techniques which involvesPolymerase Chain Reaction, is a method that allows direct identification of the Mycobacterium tuberculosisComplex. Spoligotyping, Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism, Variable Number Tandem Repeats typingare the techniques used for concurrent detection and typing of mycobacterium species at strain level. Its clinicalusefulness over the other techniques is determined by its rapidity, both in identifying causative bacteria andin providing molecular epidemiologic information on strains.However, it holds drawbacks of being expensiveand requiring well-equipped laboratory and skilled laboratory personnel, which are not always available inendemic areas. Thus, both conventional and molecular tools should be effectively used to diagnoseTuberculosis.Detection of Bovine Tuberculosis in Ethiopia is carried out most commonly on the basis oftuberculin skin testing, abattoir meat inspection and very rarely on bacteriological techniques.