Molecular Epidemiology of Bovine Tuberculosis and most Common Strains of Mycobacterium Bovis in Plateau State, North Central Nigeria

Abstract

Even though tuberculosis is endemic in Nigeria, information on the epidemiology of the disease especially bovine tuberculosis is still very scanty. Variable Number of Tandem Repeat (VNTR) was carried out on 113 tissue samples to have an idea of not only the epidemiology of bovine tuberculosis but also the most common strains of Mycobacterium bovis circulating in Plateau State. A total of twenty eight (28) different VNTR patterns were obtained from the analysis with genotypes 5 5 5 4 3; 5 5 4 4 3 and 5 5 3 4 3 being the predominant isolates. Out of 113 samples available for generating dendograms, 71 (51.8%) had complete VNTR patterns. Several other profiles which have not been reported from previous studies in Nigeria were observed in this study and it is evident that bovine tuberculosis is prevalent in Plateau State.