Proceedings of the 10th International Colloquium on Paratuberculosis

#115 Crohn’s disease and ruminant farming. Got lactase?
Ramon A Juste
NEIKER-Tecnalia, Spain
Crohn’s disease (CD) is a well known chronic pathological condition whose aetiology has remained unrecognized
for nearly a century. Complex immune mechanisms in a specific genetic background causing an abnormal
local inflammatory response are thought to be directly responsible for <strong>the</strong> clinical picture, but no external
factor triggering such host responses has been identified. Humans lose <strong>the</strong> capability <strong>of</strong> breaking down milk
lactose early in life and, afterwards, ingestion <strong>of</strong> large amounts <strong>of</strong> lactose causes a transient digestive illness
known as lactose intolerance. Since some populations have developed a lactose tolerance mutation, we submit
<strong>the</strong> hypo<strong>the</strong>sis that this adaptation to dairy farming could be related to CD as a collateral effect <strong>of</strong> exposure
to a intestinal inflammation-causing ruminant parasite to an epidemiological analysis <strong>of</strong> association throughout
<strong>the</strong> world.
Data from published sources regarding by country CD and type I diabetes incidence, lactose tolerance,
livestock population, food production, Gross National Income and human population were submitted to
correlation, multiple regression and principal components analyses. Multiple regression was also applied
to a published 20-year time series for CD incidence in Japan. These analyses showed a strong association
between country incidence <strong>of</strong> CD and frequency <strong>of</strong> lactase persistence as well as o<strong>the</strong>r ruminant production
and consumption variables that fur<strong>the</strong>r supports <strong>the</strong> meaning <strong>of</strong> those observations.
The evolutionarily plausible framework provided by this association with <strong>the</strong> species suffering a similar
inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), its coincidence with <strong>the</strong> expanse <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Friesian cattle lineages, that could
act as a Trojan horse, in addition to recent microbiological, immunological and <strong>the</strong>rapeutical observations consistent
with a slow infection type <strong>of</strong> pathogenesis, supports a mycobacterial aetiology <strong>of</strong> human IBD. Fur<strong>the</strong>r
research challenging <strong>the</strong> hypo<strong>the</strong>sis <strong>of</strong> a shared aetiology by Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis <strong>of</strong>
human and ruminant IBD is needed for confirmation or rejection <strong>of</strong> this hypo<strong>the</strong>sis.
#247 Effective reduction <strong>of</strong> Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis in raw milk
by industrial centrifugation
Jan L.W. Rademaker, Jos A. Meeuwisse, Jan D. Hoolwerf
NIZO Food Research, The Ne<strong>the</strong>rlands
Heat treatment is <strong>the</strong> most applied process to ensure <strong>the</strong> microbial quality and safety <strong>of</strong> milk and milk products.
With <strong>the</strong> application <strong>of</strong> centrifugation or bact<strong>of</strong>ugation an additional reduction <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> number <strong>of</strong> microbes in milk
can be realized. To determine its contribution to <strong>the</strong> quality <strong>of</strong> milk, <strong>the</strong> reduction <strong>of</strong> Mycobacterium avium subspecies
paratuberculosis (MAP) in raw milk by centrifugation prior to pasteurisation was determined.
In <strong>the</strong> framework <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> EUParaTBtools project two rounds <strong>of</strong> experiments were conducted. The
reduction <strong>of</strong> raw milk contaminated with MAP by centrifugation was quantified. Raw bovine milk was artificially
contaminated with MAP by addition <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> collection strains, ATCC 19851=NCTC8578 from a bovine clinical
sample; strain Niebuell from bovine milk; strain NIZO2962 from bovine faeces. Additional MAP infected feces
<strong>of</strong> cows with clinical symptoms <strong>of</strong> Johne’s disease was used to contaminate <strong>the</strong> raw milk mimicking possible
natural contamination. MAP contaminated raw milk was submitted to centrifugation, using a pilot scale
bact<strong>of</strong>uge mimicking industrial scale at different temperatures. Part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> samples was additionally submitted
to pasteurization using different time-temperature combinations. MAP levels were monitored by real time PCR
and survival was determined by growth in MGIT media. Preliminary results indicate that an MAP reduction <strong>of</strong> at
least 1 log is obtained by centrifugation.
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