This study reveals a diversity of NTM species in the Serengeti ecosystem, some of which have potential for causing disease in animals and humans.
The Elliott report also raises concerns within the industry that a significant amount of meat that has been condemned for rendering because of its potential to cause disease is being recycled as meat eligible for pet food.
The abundance and distribution (and therefore, potential to cause disease) of environmental fungi probably depend on climatic or environmental factors such as ambient temperature and moisture (20 ).
We extracted data on selected pathogens only, which we identified as important potential causes of diarrhoea in terms of both prevalence and potential to cause disease.
Tioman virus (TioPV) was isolated from bat urine collected on Tioman Island in Malaysia and, although anti-TioPV antibodies were detected in residents of the island, its potential to cause disease in humans is unknown (7 ).
Molecular epidemiological studies are useful for understanding key aspects of TB control including transmission, potential to cause disease outbreaks, and resistance to anti-TB drugs [ 8, 12, 13], among others.
A cytotoxicity assay to predict the potential of minerals to cause disease would be of great value as a prevention strategy.
The potential role of such within-host variation in causing disease has yet to be tested.
Therefore, all six sequenced Salmonella strains compared in this study have the potential of causing typhoid-like diseases in humans or animals, so none of them could be used as a real "typhoid-free" reference for comparison to identify typhoid-associated genes.
Although influenza pathogenesis in mice is not fully consistent with that in humans, mouse experiments have been widely used to better understand the potential of influenza viruses to cause disease in humans.
Although we did not investigate the potential of our isolates to cause disease, their detection in waters is expected to serve as warning against an impending outbreak of cholera if appropriate preventive measures are not enforced.
