These patterns (SB1763–1767) reveal BB-94 supplier deletion events that could have lead to new spoligotype patterns evolving, as was the case in Portugal [30]. However, more detailed studies need to be conducted to fully ascertain this assertion. The sharing of grazing land in the Kafue Basin in Zambia between cattle and Kafue lechwe antelopes (Kobus leche Kafuensis), considered as wildlife biological reservoir hosts for BTB, might explain

the high prevalence levels found in this setting [3, 4, 6, 33]. Underlying factors in sustaining the infectious agent depend on the temporal and spatial distribution between the source of infection and the susceptible animals, which also are a function of the duration of interaction between the agent, the susceptible host and its environment [34]. The underlying factors for BTB transmission between the Lechwe antelopes and cattle are reported to be optimal in the Kafue Basin [3, 6], although further investigations at molecular level will be necessary

to elucidate this relationship. The tracing of livestock movement patterns from their areas of origin to major abattoirs is important in understanding selleck compound possible disease dispersion patterns. Cattle traders trek for days from areas within and around the Kafue Basin to abattoirs in the nearby districts[3]. In our study, we observed that identical and closely related strains were also found in other districts. These Thiamet G findings PRI-724 suggest the sharing of strains between districts, a finding which is important when determining BTB localization or spread. Namwala district (the only district right in the Kafue Basin) [8] was found to have more

isolates than any other district. The practice of allowing trekking animals to spend one or more nights in different kraals during the journey to abattoirs may partially be responsible for the dissemination of the infectious organisms. This pattern of animal movements may to a greater extent be responsible to the observed dispersion of spoligotype patterns suggestively, based on our results from the Namwala district zones to other surrounding districts. However, these results need to be interpreted with caution considering limitations related to the survey period and sample size related to limited resources and time constraints. This makes the results a bit difficult to interpret when inferring to the entire region given the representativeness of the sample size. In addition, the spoligotyping technique has weaknesses in that it has a low discriminatory power [29] which may result in low specificity of some patterns with a possibility of grouping strains that might not be identical when typed by other methods. However, the results obtained in this study give an indication of M. bovis strains in cattle with an insight in the likely role that cattle movements have on the dissemination of the disease.