Evaluation of a Commercial Real-Time PCR Kit for the Detection of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis in Milk

There are several commercial test kits for Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) detection, each with different advantages, disadvantages, and applications. In the present study, a real-time PCR kit targeting the unique transposon sequence ISMAP 02 was evaluated. The analytical sensitivity was determined using the type strain ATCC 19698, and the specificity was validated by testing fifteen MAP isolates, thirteen non-MAP Mycobacterium isolates, and eight non- Mycobacterium isolates. Six spiking experiments were performed using raw milk and reconstituted infant milk artificially contaminated with dilutions containing 10 0 –10 5 MAP cells mL −1 . Sensitivity and specificity were at 100 %. The detection probabilities in raw milk and reconstituted infant milk for the samples (containing 1.4 × 10 1 and 1.7 × 10 1 MAP cell 50 mL −1 ) were 16.6 and 91.6 %, respectively. Thus, the tested kit yielded satisfying results to detect MAP in milk.