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Journal for Veterinary Medicine, Biotechnology and Biosafety

Volume 11, Issue 4, November 2025, Pages 32–36

ISSN 2411-3174 (print version) ISSN 2411-0388 (online version)

MICROBIOLOGICAL STUDY OF FIELD CULTURES OF MYCOBACTERIUM SPP. AS CONTAMINANTS OF MILK AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Sosnytska A. O., Zazharskyi V. V.

Dnipro State Agrarian and Economic University, Dnipro, Ukraine, e-mail: zazharskiy@gmail.com

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Citation for print version: Sosnytska, A. O. and Zazharskyi, V. V. (2025) ‘Microbiological study of field cultures of Mycobacterium spp. as contaminants of milk and the environment’, Journal for Veterinary Medicine, Biotechnology and Biosafety, 11(4), pp. 32–36.

Download PDF (online version)

Citation for online version: Sosnytska, A. O. and Zazharskyi, V. V. (2025) ‘Microbiological study of field cultures of Mycobacterium spp. as contaminants of milk and the environment’, Journal for Veterinary Medicine, Biotechnology and Biosafety, 11(4), pp. 32–36. DOI: 10.36016/JVMBBS-2025-11-4-5.

Summary. Atypical nonpathogenic nontuberculous mycobacteria are common in the environment and can contaminate livestock facilities, feed, animals, animal products, and manure. These prokaryotes are saprophytes, but they share antigenic similarities with emerging mycobacterial pathogens. Upon contact with animals, they trigger an immune response through complexes of mycobacterial antigens in the host. This can cause errors in immunodiagnostic tests and microbiological assessments of outbreak situations. Microbiological monitoring of livestock products and milk has shown widespread environmental contamination with nonpathogenic, saprophytic, atypical mycobacteria of various species, mainly group IV by Runyon. These are fast-growing, hardy prokaryotes tolerant to a wide range of cultivation conditions and temperatures, with broad adaptability for extracellular enzymatic breakdown of organic macromolecules. The epidemiological concern is that atypical mycobacteria belong to the genus Mycobacterium and share antigenic complexes with pathogenic mycobacteria, leading to false-positive allergic reactions and diagnostic confusion in microbiological tests. Biological testing on guinea pigs demonstrated that ubiquitous atypical mycobacteria, common contaminants of milk and manure, do not cause pathological changes in internal organs during necropsy. However, during simultaneous allergy testing, they had significantly stronger reactions to sensitin from atypical mycobacteria. In contrast, responses to tuberculin from pathogenic mycobacteria were weak or absent. Saprophytic mycobacteria are part of the normal, transient microbiota of animals and serve as a barrier in integumentary tissues

Keywords: atypical mycobacteria, ubiquity, nonpathogenicity, manure and milk contamination, false-positive allergic reactions, bioassay, guinea pigs

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