Case report: Discovery of tuberculosis caused by Mycobacterium bovis in free-ranging vervet monkeys in the Greater Kruger Conservation Area

Lin-Mari de Klerk-Lorist; Michele A Miller; Emily P Mitchell; Rudolf Lorist; D Schalk van Dyk; Nomkosi Mathebula; Louise Goosen; Rebecca Dwyer-Leonard; Giovanni Ghielmetti; Elizabeth M Streicher; Tanya J Kerr

doi:10.3389/fvets.2024.1460115

Case report: Discovery of tuberculosis caused by Mycobacterium bovis in free-ranging vervet monkeys in the Greater Kruger Conservation Area

Front Vet Sci. 2024 Dec 10:11:1460115. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1460115. eCollection 2024.

Affiliations

¹ State Veterinary Office & Laboratory, DALRRD, Kruger National Park, Skukuza, South Africa.
² SAMRC Centre for Tuberculosis Research, Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa.
³ Department of Paraclinical Sciences and Centre for Veterinary Wildlife Research, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
⁴ Bushbuckridge South State Veterinary Office, Thulamahashe, South Africa.
⁵ Section of Veterinary Bacteriology, Institute for Food Safety and Hygiene, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Animal tuberculosis (TB) has been reported in several wildlife species in the Greater Kruger Conservation Area (GKCA), South Africa. This report describes the discovery of clinical tuberculosis, caused by Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis), in free-ranging vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus). The "One Health" concept is especially relevant to TB since this is a multi-host disease with zoonotic potential and is endemic in GKCA. Vervet monkeys have become habituated to humans in tourist areas and may be a source of infection through close contact. Indirect transmission of M. bovis through environmental sources has also been suspected to present a risk of spread between host species. Clinically diseased monkeys present in two tourist areas in the GKCA, that died (n = 1) or were euthanized (n = 5), were submitted for diagnostic necropsies. The presence of pathological lesions, Ziehl-Neelsen-stained impression smears, Xpert® MTB/RIF Ultra (GXU) assay, mycobacterial culture and speciation by genomic regions of difference PCR, were used to confirm the diagnosis of M. bovis infection in these monkeys. The finding of multiple cases necessitates further investigation of TB in monkey troops living within the GKCA tourist areas to determine the source of infection and assess the risk of transmission to other animals and humans.

Keywords: Chlorocebus pygerythrus; Mycobacterium bovis; animal tuberculosis; one health; vervet monkeys; wildlife.

Publication types

Case Reports

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Funding for capture and sampling was provided by the South African Department of Agriculture, Land Reform, and Rural Development (DALRRD). Support for Stellenbosch personnel and laboratory analyses was partially funded by the South African government through the South African Medical Research Council and the National Research Foundation South African Research Chair Initiative (Grant #86949).