Tuberculosis in captive sloth bear (Melursus urcinus)

A carcass of 10 year old male Sloth Bear (Melursus ursinus) from Maharaj Bag Zoo, Nagpur was brought for a post mortem examination with the history of illness since 15 days and no response to the treatment. The postmortem examination revealed pale mucous membrane, hide bound condition and dehydration. Both the lungs revealed presence of large numbers of caseative nodules of various sizes with enlarged and calcified mediastinal lymphnodes.The impression smears prepared from the caseative nodules of lung showed abundant acid fast tubercular bacilli. Histopathological examination of lungs revealed areas of typical granulomatus reaction with caseasation and aggregation of chronic inflammatory cells and sever thickening of inter alveolar septa due to deposition of fibrin, inflammatory cells, and erythrocytes