Replication and long-term persistence of bovine and human strains of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis within Acanthamoeba polyphaga.

ABSTRACT: Free-living protists are ubiquitous in the environment and form a potential reservoir for the persistence of animal and human pathogens. Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis is the cause of Johne's disease, a systemic infection accompanied by chronic inflammation of the intestine that affects many animals, including primates. Most humans with Crohn's disease are infected with this chronic enteric pathogen. Subclinical infection with M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis is widespread in domestic livestock. Infected animals excrete large numbers of robust organisms into the environment, but little is known about their ability to replicate and persist in protists. In the present study we fed laboratory cultures of Acanthamoeba polyphaga with bovine and human strains of M. avium subsp. para

SUBMITTER: Mura M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1352277 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature