Limitations

of the use of the mtp40 fragment as a marker of differentiation between Mycobacterium tuberculosis and M. bovis CRISTINA VIANA-NIERO, SYLVIA CARDOSO LEÃO The bacilli that cause tuberculosis (TB) belong to the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, which is composed of M. tuberculosis, M. bovis subsp. bovis, M. africanum and M. microti, as well as the M. bovis BCG strain used for vaccination. It has been proposed that newly discovered species should also be included in this complex. These new species include M. canettii, a variant of M. tuberculosis found in the Somalia region(1), M. bovis subsp. caprae, the etiologic agent of TB in goats(2) and M. pinnipedii, which causes TB in sea lion