Tuberculosis in goats: comparison between positivity to the skin test, pathological lesions and bacteriological cultures.

摘要

Tuberculosis (TBC) in goats represents a source of infection for man and other animals. A skin test is used to determine the presence of the disease in animals and is the official diagnostic test according to the Servicio Nacional de Sanidad Animal (SENASA) in Argentina. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the repeatability of the skin test in goats and to associate the results with pathological findings at necropsy and microbiological cultures. 15 skin test-positive goats out of 9541 animals in the north of the province of Cordoba, Argentina were retested with the avian and bovine PPD's in 2002. After 72 h, these animals were necropsied and tissue samples were taken for cultures. A low repeatability was observed between tests and none of the animals showed macroscopic lesions related to TBC. In addition, all the cultures were negative. These results suggest that further studies on diagnostic tests of TBC in goats are needed.