Prevalence and molecular characterization of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex in cattle and humans, Maiduguri, Borno state, Nigeria: a cross-sectional study.

INTRODUCTION: Globally, the highest burden of bovine and human tuberculosis resides in Africa and Asia. Tuberculosis (TB) is the second leading single infectious killer after severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus-2 (SARSCOV-2). Bovine TB remains a treat to wild and domesticated animals, humans and hinders international trade in endemic countries like Nigeria. We aimed at determining the prevalence of bovine and human tuberculosis, and the spoligotypes of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex in cattle and humans in Maiduguri. METHODS: We conducted a cross sectional study on bovine and human tuberculosis in Maiduguri, Borno state. We calculated sample size using the method of Thrusfield. Lesions suggestive of TB from 160 slaughtered cattle were obtained from Maiduguri Central Abattoir. Sputum samples from humans; 82 abattoir workers and 147 suspected TB patients from hospitals/clinics were obtained. Lesions and sputum samples were cultured for the isolation of Mycobacterium spp. Positive cultures were subjected genus typing, deletion analysis and selected isolates were spoligotyped. Data was analysed using SPSS VERSION 16.0. RESULTS: Prevalence of 32.5% (52/160) was obtained in cattle. Damboa local government area (LGA), where majority of the infected animals were obtained from had 35.5% bTB prevalence. All categories analysed (breed, age, sex, body conformation and score) had P-values that were not significant (P > 0.05). Sputum culture revealed a prevalence of 3.7% (3/82) from abattoir workers and 12.2% from hospitals/clinics. A significant P-value (0.03) was obtained when positive culture from abattoir and that of hospitals/clinics were compared. Out of the 52 culture positive isolates obtained from cattle, 26 (50%) belonged to M. tuberculosis complex (MTC) and 17/26 (65.4%) were characterized as M. bovis. In humans, 7/12 (58.3%) MTC obtained were characterized as M. tuberculosis. Spoligotyping revealed SB0944 and SB1025 in cattle, while SIT838, SIT61 of LAM10_CAM and SIT1054, SIT46 of Haarlem (H) families were obtained from humans. CONCLUSIONS: Cattle in Damboa LGA need to be screened for bTB as majority of the infected animals were brought from there. Our findings revealed the presence of SB0944 and SB1025 spoligotypes from cattle in Borno state. We isolated M. tuberculosis strain of the H family mainly domiciled in Europe from humans.

Prevalence of Salmonella associated with chick mortality at hatching and their susceptibility to antimicrobial agents.

The prevalence of Salmonella associated mortality at hatching was investigated in three hatcheries in Jos, central Nigeria. Their susceptibility to antimicrobial agents was also evaluated. S. Kentucky and S. Hadar were isolated. While half of the isolates were from internal organs, 26.7% came from meconial swabs of dead-in-shell embryos, 17.8% from intestinal samples and 4.4% from egg shells. S. Hadar is known to colonise only the gut and is classified as non-invasive, but in this study 82% were obtained from internal organs which suggests that infections with this serotype may also cause invasive disease. Antimicrobial susceptibility tests showed a high prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in the study area with complete resistance to gentamycin, enrofloxacin, nalidixic acid, tetracycline and streptomycin and substantial resistance to triple sulphur and ciprofloxacin. Six multiple resistance profiles were recorded with a high level of multiple resistance to quinolones. Quinolone resistance has implications for veterinary and human therapy as their misuse in poultry could lead to the emergence of resistant animal and zoonotic pathogens.