Isolation of Brucella microti from mandibular lymph nodes of red foxes, Vulpes vulpes, in lower Austria.

• Published in: Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases
• Main Authors: Scholz, Holger Christian, Hofer, Erwin, Vergnaud, Gilles, Le Fleche, Philippe, Whatmore, Adrian M, Al Dahouk, Sascha, Pfeffer, Martin, Krüger, Monika, Cloeckaert, Axel, Tomaso, Herbert
• Other Authors: Institut de génétique et microbiologie Orsay (IGM), Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 (UP11)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2009
• Subjects: MESH: Animals; MESH: Austria; MESH: Mandible; MESH: Ochrobactrum anthropi; MESH: RNA; Ribosomal; 16S; MESH: Rec A Recombinases; MESH: Sequence Analysis; MESH: Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; MESH: Brucella; MESH: Brucellosis; MESH: Czech Republic; MESH: Foxes; MESH: Genotype; MESH: Geography; MESH: Lymph Nodes; [SDV.BBM]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biochemistry; Molecular Biology; [SDV.MP]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Microbiology and Parasitology; Microtus arvalis
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00532594; https://doi.org/10.1089/vbz.2008.0036

International audience From the mandibular lymph nodes of wild red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) hunted in the region of Gmünd, Lower Austria, two gram-negative, oxidase- and urease-positive, coccoid rod-shaped bacteria (strains 257 and 284) were isolated. Cells were fast growing, nonmotile, and agglutinated with monospecific anti-Brucella (M) serum. Both strains were biochemically identified as Ochrobactrum anthropi by using the API 20NE test. However, sequencing of the 16S rRNA and recA genes clearly identified strains 257 and 284 as Brucella spp. Further molecular analysis by omp2a/b gene sequencing, multilocus sequence typing and multilocus variable number tandem repeats analysis revealed Brucella microti, a recently described Brucella species that has originally been isolated from diseased common voles (Microtus arvalis) in South Moravia, Czech Republic in 2000. Our findings demonstrate that B. microti is prevalent in a larger geographic area covering the region of South Moravia and parts of Lower Austria. Foxes could have become infected by ingestion of infected common voles.