Evaluation of susceptibility to pyrazinamide and streptomycin, isoniazid, rifampin and ethambutol of Mycobacterium caprae strains isolated from European bison (Bison bonasus caucasicus) in the Bieszczady Mountains (Southern Poland).

The material for drug resistance testing was 28 strains of Mycobacterium caprae isolated from tissue collected post mortem from a free-living Bieszczady Mountain European bison (Bison bonasus caucasicus) herd. All drug susceptibility tests were carried out on an automated Bactec mycobacterial growth indicator tube (MGIT) 960 system, using Bactec MGIT 960 streptomycin, isoniazid, rifampin and ethambutol (S.I.R.E.) and Bactec MGIT 960 PZA kits. The analyzed M. caprae strains demonstrated susceptibility to PZA and the complement of four basic anti-mycobacterial drugs: S.I.R.E. Considering that we are dealing with multidrug-resistant and extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis more and more often, and that no new drugs have been discovered or developed for over 60 years, the study of drug resistance in free-living animal strains of MTBC is of great importance for the deepening and broadening of our knowledge of TB.