Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) causes chronic inflammation in domestic livestock. But before chronic inflammation, does it cause low-grade intestinal inflammation? Similar to the low-grade inflammation found in irritable bowel syndrome?

If MAP causes irritable bowel syndrome in humans, do sub-clinically MAP-infected cattle, for example, suffer from a form of IBS too? It's been noted that milk yield is significantly less from sub-clinically MAP-infected dairy herds. Is this because the infected cattle are experiencing significant abdominal pain (one the hallmarks of IBS) and therefore distressed?

A future study could analyse intestinal mucosal biopsies from sub-clinically MAP infected cattle for inflammatory cells and inflammatory mediators.