P69
One-health genomic analysis of a self-limited tuberculosis familiar microepidemic reveals a long-term unnoticed zoonosis involving Mycobacterium caprae
L Perez-Lago(1) M Martínez-Lirola(2) M Herranz(1,7) J A Garrido(3) A B Esteban García(3) F Escabia Machuca(4) M T Cabezas Fernández(2) S Buenestado-Serrano(1) J M Viudez Martínez(5) E Dominguez Iñarra(6) P Muñoz(1,7) D García de Viedma(1,7)
1:Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón. Madrid; 2:Complejo Hospitalario Torrecárdenas. Almería; 3:Universidad de Almería; 4:Unidad de Prevención, Promoción y Vigilancia de la Salud del Área Sanitaria Norte de Almería. Consejería de Salud. Junta de Andalucia, Almería, Spain; 5:Oficina Comarcal Agraria de Huercal-Overa. Junta de Andalucia; 6:Laboratorio de producción y Sanidad Animal, Córdoba. Junta de Andalucía; 7:CIBER Enfermedades Respiratorias CIBERES.
Molecular epidemiology identifies transmission chains that can be refined with the application of WGS. We present a MIRU-VNTR cluster interpreted as a familiar microepidemic (year 2020; cases A and B). The SNP-distances and genomic relationships between the isolates reinterpreted this cluster, ruling out Case A-Case B direct transmission. Moreover, WGS revealed that the isolates corresponded to M. caprae, which is not routinely identified to the species level in many laboratories. Cases A and B were interviewed and they acknowledged to own a goat farm. These findings led us to retrospectively look for other M caprae cases which could have been unnoticed. 12 additional cases along the 2003-19 period shared MIRU-VNTR similar patterns, and WGS analysis confirmed all them as M caprae. We followed a one-health approach to integrate in our investigation the animal analysis. A high rate of infection was found in the farm studied (124/ 350 positive animals); M caprae was isolated from 11/24 necropsies cultured. The integrated WGS analysis of all the human and animal isolates identified a cluster that included the year 2020 Case A and B isolates and those of 9 goats and a high diversity of M. caprae strains for the remaining human isolates. The integration of population-based MIRU-VNTR analysis together with a more refined genomic analysis, under a one-health strategy, has revealed an extense endemic zoonotic problem involving M caprae, unnoticed for more than 10 years.
Funding : Junta de Andalucía (AP-0062-2021-C2-F2), ISCIII (PI21/01823, PI19/00331, FI20/00129) and FEDER fund “A way of making Europe