Molecular analysis methods in epidemiological investigations of animal tuberculosis in European bison

Abstract

This work describes the usefulness of the two molecular methods (spoligotyping and MIRU-VNTR) for bovine tubercle bacilli typing in the epidemiological research of tuberculosis in European bison. Most important factors for tracking the transmission of infection during an epidemiology of infectious diseases, irrespectively the animal species it affects, are the immediate identification of etiologic factor, indication of its source, and prevention a further spread of disease by breaking the chain of transmission. The combination of two PCR-based methods was shown to be useful for determining the relatedness among isolates identified in the population of bison.