Other Mycobacteria as the Cause of BTB in Burkina Faso

In addition to M. bovis, other mycobacterial species (including the MTC and atypical mycobacterial species) have also occasionally been isolated from tuberculous lesions in cattle in Burkina Faso.

The involvement of atypical mycobacteria in cattle infections was first suspected when the comparative intradermal tuberculin test, using avian and bovine PPDs, was used to determine the prevalence of BTB (Gidel et al. 1969b). The number of positive reactions to avian tuberculin appeared to correlate with the extent of poultry production in the study areas. Accordingly, the proportion of reactors to M. avium PPD was low in Dori (Because of a lack of funding, other species, including wildlife, received very little attention with regard to their TB status. There are no published reports of the presence of BTB in wildlife, and the available data on other domestic species are scant and incomplete. BTB was detected in pigs and horses slaughtered in Bobo- Dioulasso abattoir with a prevalence of 2.2 and 0.3%, respectively. Tuberculosis was also diagnosed in sheep, and it is suspected to occur in a number of other domes­ticated species, but without confirmation (Gidel et al. 1969a).

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