''Mycobacterium pinnipedii'' is a member of the
Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex
The ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' complex (MTC or MTBC) is a genetically related group of ''Mycobacterium'' species that can cause tuberculosis in humans or other animals.
It includes:
* ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis''
* ''Mycobacterium africanu ...
which primarily infects seals. It is a slowly growing
Mycobacterium
''Mycobacterium'' is a genus of over 190 species in the phylum Actinomycetota, assigned its own family, Mycobacteriaceae. This genus includes pathogens known to cause serious diseases in mammals, including tuberculosis ('' M. tuberculosis'') and ...
. The species is named after the
Pinniped
Pinnipeds (pronounced ), commonly known as seals, are a widely distributed and diverse clade of carnivorous, fin-footed, semiaquatic, mostly marine mammals. They comprise the extant families Odobenidae (whose only living member is the walru ...
s, the organisms from which ''M. pinnipedii'' was first isolated.
In 2014, a genetic study showed that Peruvian human skeleton dating to 1000 CE had been infected with a form of tuberculosis most closely related to ''M. pinnipedii'', suggesting that seals had served as a vector for transmission of tuberculosis from the Old World to the New.
References
External links
*
Acid-fast bacilli
pinnipedii
Bacteria described in 2003
{{Mycobacterium-stub