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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, February 2008, p. 768-773, Vol. 74, No. 3
0099-2240/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01193-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

First Detection of Mycobacteria in African Rodents and Insectivores, Using Stratified Pool Screening ^,

Lies Durnez,^1,2* Miriam Eddyani,² Georgies F. Mgode,³ Abdul Katakweba,³ Charles R. Katholi,⁵ Robert R. Machang'u,³ Rudovik R. Kazwala,⁴ Françoise Portaels,^2, and Herwig Leirs^1,6,

Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium,¹ Mycobacteriology Unit, Department of Microbiology, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium,² Pest Management Centre, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania,³ Department of Veterinary Medicine and Public Health, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania,⁴ Department of Biostatistics, Division of Geographic Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama,⁵ Danish Pest Infestation Laboratory, University of Aarhus, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark⁶

Received 29 May 2007/ Accepted 23 November 2007

With the rising number of patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS in developing countries, the control of mycobacteria is of growing importance. Previous studies have shown that rodents and insectivores are carriers of mycobacteria. However, it is not clear how widespread mycobacteria are in these animals and what their role is in spreading them. Therefore, the prevalence of mycobacteria in rodents and insectivores was studied in and around Morogoro, Tanzania. Live rodents were trapped, with three types of live traps, in three habitats. Pieces of organs were pooled per habitat, species, and organ type (stratified pooling); these sample pools were examined for the presence of mycobacteria by PCR, microscopy, and culture methods. The mycobacterial isolates were identified using phenotypic techniques and sequencing. In total, 708 small mammals were collected, 31 of which were shrews. By pool prevalence estimation, 2.65% of the animals were carriers of mycobacteria, with a higher prevalence in the urban areas and in Cricetomys gambianus and the insectivore Crocidura hirta. Nontuberculous mycobacteria (Mycobacterium chimaera, M. intracellulare, M. arupense, M. parascrofulaceum, and Mycobacterium spp.) were isolated from C. gambianus, Mastomys natalensis, and C. hirta. This study is the first to report findings of mycobacteria in African rodents and insectivores and the first in mycobacterial ecology to estimate the prevalence of mycobacteria after stratified pool screening. The fact that small mammals in urban areas carry more mycobacteria than those in the fields and that potentially pathogenic mycobacteria were isolated identifies a risk for other animals and humans, especially HIV/AIDS patients, that have a weakened immune system.

Published ahead of print on 7 December 2007.

Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://aem.asm.org/.

F.P. and H.L. contributed equally to this study.