Mycobacterium kansasii Infection in a Farmed White-Tailed Deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ) in Florida, USA

A 7-year-old farmed white-tailed deer doe was transported to a Levy County, Florida property and began to decline in health, exhibiting weight loss and pelvic limb weakness. The doe prematurely delivered live twin fawns, both of which later died. The doe was treated with corticosteroids, antibiotics...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Animals (Basel) 2024-05, Vol.14 (10), p.1511
Main Authors: Cottingham, Sydney L, Cheng, An-Chi, de Oliveira Viadanna, Pedro H, Subramaniam, Kuttichantran, Craft, William F, Iredale, Marley E, Wisely, Samantha M, Campos Krauer, Juan M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
captive cervid
Deer
deer farming
Granulomas
Infections
Laboratories
Livestock
Mineralization
Neutrophils
non-tuberculous Mycobacterium
Pathogens
Pneumonia
Steroids
Tuberculosis
Zoonoses
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Summary:A 7-year-old farmed white-tailed deer doe was transported to a Levy County, Florida property and began to decline in health, exhibiting weight loss and pelvic limb weakness. The doe prematurely delivered live twin fawns, both of which later died. The doe was treated with corticosteroids, antibiotics, gastric cytoprotectants, and B vitamins but showed no improvement. The doe was euthanized, and a post mortem examination was performed under the University of Florida's Cervidae Health Research Initiative. We collected lung tissue after the animal was euthanized and performed histological evaluation, using H&E and Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) staining, and molecular evaluation, using conventional PCR, followed by Sanger sequencing. The microscopic observations of the H&E-stained lung showed multifocal granuloma, while the ZN-stained tissue revealed low numbers of beaded, magenta-staining rod bacteria inside the granuloma formation. Molecular analysis identified the presence of . This isolation of a non-tuberculous in a white-tailed deer emphasizes the importance of specific pathogen identification in cases of tuberculosis-like disease in farmed and free-ranging cervids. We report the first case of infection in a farmed white-tailed deer ( ) in Florida. Although cases are sporadic in white-tailed deer, it is important to maintain farm biosecurity and prevent farmed cervids from contacting wildlife to prevent disease transmission.
ISSN:2076-2615
2076-2615
DOI:10.3390/ani14101511