''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 africa ...

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 l ...

. The species is named after the

Pinniped Pinnipeds (pronounced ), commonly known as seals, are a widely range (biology), distributed and diverse clade of carnivorous, fin-footed, semiaquatic, mostly marine mammal, marine mammals. They comprise the extant taxon, extant family (biology ...

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