Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Nontuberculous Mycobacteria Prevalence in Bats’ Guano from Caves and Attics of Buildings Studied by Culture and qPCR Examinations

Ivo Pavlik
* ORCID logo ,
Vit Ulmann
ORCID logo ,
Helena Modra
ORCID logo ,
Milan Gersl
,
Barbora Rantova
,
Jan Zukal
ORCID logo ,
Katerina Zukalova
,
Ondrej Konecny
ORCID logo ,
Vlastislav Kana
,
Pavel Kubalek
,
Vladimir Babak
ORCID logo ,
Ross Tim Weston
Version 1 : Received: 15 October 2021 / Approved: 18 October 2021 / Online: 18 October 2021 (14:54:06 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Pavlik, I.; Ulmann, V.; Modra, H.; Gersl, M.; Rantova, B.; Zukal, J.; Zukalova, K.; Konecny, O.; Kana, V.; Kubalek, P.; Babak, V.; Weston, R.T. Nontuberculous Mycobacteria Prevalence in Bats’ Guano from Caves and Attics of Buildings Studied by Culture and qPCR Examinations. Microorganisms 2021, 9, 2236. Pavlik, I.; Ulmann, V.; Modra, H.; Gersl, M.; Rantova, B.; Zukal, J.; Zukalova, K.; Konecny, O.; Kana, V.; Kubalek, P.; Babak, V.; Weston, R.T. Nontuberculous Mycobacteria Prevalence in Bats’ Guano from Caves and Attics of Buildings Studied by Culture and qPCR Examinations. Microorganisms 2021, 9, 2236.

Abstract

A total of 281 guano samples were collected from caves (N = 181) in 8 European countries (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia) and attics in the Czech R. (N = 100). The correlation of detection of mycobacteria between Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) microscopy and culture examination and qPCR was strong. ZN microscopy was positive in guano from caves (58.6%) more than double than positivity in guano from attics (21.0%; P <0.01). From 89 mycobacterial isolates (73 isolates from cave guano and 16 isolates from attics’ guano) 68 (76.4%) isolates of 19 sp., ssp. and complex were identified as members of 3 Groups (M. fortuitum, M. chelonae, and M. mucogenicum), and 4 Complexes (M. avium, M. terrae, M. vaccae, and M. smegmatis). A total of 20 isolates (22,5%) belonged to risk group 1 (environmental saprophytes), 48 isolates (53.9%) belonged to risk group 2 (potential pathogens), and none of isolates belonged to risk group 3 (obligatory pathogens). When comparing bat guano collected from caves and attics, differences (P<0.01; Mann-Whitney test) were observed for the electrical conductivity, total carbon, total organic and total inorganic carbon. None difference (P> 0.05; Mann-Whitney test) was found for pH and oxidation-reduction potential parameters.

Keywords

non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM); mycobacteria other than tuberculosis (MOTT); saprophytic environmental mycobacteria; risk groups of microorganisms; Microchiroptera

Subject

Biology and Life Sciences, Animal Science, Veterinary Science and Zoology

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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