Background: Due to a sporadic occurrence of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) in non-human primates (NHP), the susceptibility of different NHP to MAP should be investigated.
Methods: Fecal and tissue samples (ileum, ileocecal lymph node, bone marrow) of 20 animals (seven species) were analyzed by IS900-based PCRs and sequenced. Samples of MAP PCR positive NHP were further cultivated.
Results: MAP DNA was detectable in two animals; the ileum of a cottontop tamarin and the bone marrow of a common marmoset. Cultivation of MAP failed. Sequence analysis revealed 100% homology to the MAP-K10 sequence. Pathohistological examinations offered no direct correlation to a MAP infection.
Conclusions: MAP was detected for the first time in a common marmoset. But as both NHP suffered from other diseases, an asymptomatic infection with MAP was assumed. The detection of MAP in the bone marrow might play a role in establishing latent paratuberculosis, as known from tuberculosis.
Keywords: Callithrix jacchus; PCR; Saguinus oedipus; bacteriological infection; bone marrow.
© 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.