Abstract: “There are many case reports of elephant pathogenic bacteria and viruses that require quick and sensitive diagnostic techniques due to the impact they generate. Out of these the occurrence of TB in elephants, especially in captivity, leading to zoonotic risk for humans who live at the animal-human interface and the different strains of elephant endotheliotropic herpes virus (EEHV) that pose a threat to Asian elephants are of extreme importance. Hence, this study aims to evaluate the PCR based molecular techniques for the rapid and direct detection of TB in captive elephants by primers targeting gene hsp65 and EEHV 1 strain by primers targeting the terminase gene. Serologically positive captive Asian elephants at Elephant orphanage, Pinnawala were screened for TB by specific primer PCR assay for hsp65 gene of M.tuberculosis using direct DNA isolates from trunk wash samples. Among 21 trunk washes, only a single amplification was observed, with a size closer to 441bp. Sequencing of this re”

Keywords: endotheliotropic herpes virus, hsp65, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)