Author(s)

Shoor Vir Singh, Ajay Vir Singh, Avnish Kumar, Pravin Kumar Singh, Rajib Deb, Amit Kumar Verma, Amit Kumar, Ruchi Tiwari, Sandip Chakraborty, Kuldeep Dhama

Animal Genetics and Breeding, Project Directorate on Cattle, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Meerut, India.
Animal Resource Development Department, Pt. Nehru Complex, Agartala, India.
Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Uttar Pradesh Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Pashu Chikitsa Vigyan Vishwavidyalaya Evam Go-Anusandhan Sansthan (DUVASU), Mathura, India.
Department of Veterinary Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine, Uttar Pradesh Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Pashu Chikitsa Vi- gyan Vishwavidyalaya Evam Go-Anusandhan Sansthan (DUVASU), Mathura, India.
Division of Pathology, Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Bareilly, India.
Microbiology Laboratory, Animal Health Division, Central Institute for Research on Goats (CIRG), Mathura, India.
National JALMA Institute for Leprosy and Other Mycobacterial Diseases (NJIL and OMD), Agra, India.

Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis causes chronic inflammation of the intestine known as Johne’s disease (JD) in domestic and wild ruminants including primates. MAP has also been associated with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) so called Crohn’s disease (CD) of human beings, which is incurable even after surgery. By virtue of the pasteurization resistant power, high endemicity of the infection in animals continues to be the permanent source of infection to human population. High bio-burden of MAP in wide range of biotic (animal hosts including human beings) and abiotic environment in each and every country where it has been investigated, serves a reminder about the survival abilities of the MAP in diverse range of environmental conditions. Ability of the MAP to evade immune system of the host and the temporal events during infection of the macro-phages, is an area of major concern and research activities as the pattern of distribution are quiet different from those of other pathogenic intracellular organisms. Moreover, the organism can survive over a wide range of environmental conditions such as high and low environmental temperatures, pasteurization, low pH, and high salt concentration etc. This superior survival efficiency from environmental degradation and dormancy within host allows the pathogen to be available for causing disease and pathogenicity in animals and human beings, when conditions are favorable. Perusal of literature reveal that, despite the availability of whole genome sequence of MAP, a very little is known about the replication, persistence and survival mechanisms of this pathogen. Therefore, this review tries to address the survival mechanisms of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis in the different host species and adverse environmental conditions in order to allow designing of more rational diagnostic and control procedures.

Paratuberculosis; Johne’s Disease; Reservoir; Disease; Survival; MAP; Animal

Singh, S. , Singh, A. , Kumar, A. , Singh, P. , Deb, R. , Verma, A. , Kumar, A. , Tiwari, R. , Chakraborty, S. and Dhama, K. (2013) Survival mechanisms of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis within host species and in the environment—A review. Natural Science, 5, 710-723. doi: 10.4236/ns.2013.56088.