Publications by authors named "Elizma Streicher"
Animal tuberculosis significantly challenges global health, agriculture, and wildlife conservation efforts. Mycobacterial cultures are resource-intensive, time-consuming, and challenged by heterogeneous populations. In this study, we employed a culture-independent approach, using targeted long-read-based next-generation sequencing (tNGS), to investigate the mycobacterial composition in 60 DNA samples extracted from Mycobacterium bovis infected culture-confirmed African buffalo tissue.
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- This study focuses on the use of whole genome sequencing (WGS) to analyze tuberculosis isolates from wildlife, specifically comparing strains from Marloth Park and Kruger National Park in South Africa, and highlights the advantages of WGS over traditional genotyping methods.* ! -
- Findings revealed that while isolates from both parks had similar genetic markers, WGS identified them as distinct groups, suggesting more complex transmission patterns than initially thought.* ! -
- Overall, the research demonstrates that WGS enhances our understanding of tuberculosis epidemiology in wildlife, providing insights that could inform control measures and further One Health research.* !
The purpose of this simple study was to characterize a panel of clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis obtained from the Western Cape region of South Africa where new clinical vaccine trials are beginning, in the low dose aerosol guinea pig infection model. Most of the strains tested grew well in the lungs and other organs of these animals, and in most cases gave rise to moderate to very severe lung damage. We further observed that the current BCG vaccine was highly protective against two randomly selected strains, giving rise to significantly prolonged survival.
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