Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) is endemic in the bovine populations of many countries and can cause a significant reduction in animal welfare and production efficiency making control desirable. Effective control has proved very difficult to achieve despite multiple regionally coordinated programmes being in existence since the 1920s. The international community increasingly recognises the value in learning from the collective experiences of existing programmes to improve the effectiveness of control. The aim of this review is to outline key aspects of bovine Johne's disease control activities across 6 endemically infected countries to facilitate comparison of current international practice. The background, control activities and monitoring components of programmes in Australia, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States of America were individually reviewed. Factual accuracy of each review was checked by individuals involved in the respective programmes before the reviews were condensed and combined into a single document presented here, with the complete reviews of each programme available as supplementary material. There was considerable heterogeneity in key aspects of control activity design including goals, responses to declining participation, herd classification, recommended control measures and associated test requirements. The data presented will be of interest to organisations that are involved in developing new or existing regionally coordinated BJD control activities.

Accurate identification of mastitis-causing bacteria supports effective management and can be used to implement selective use of antimicrobials for treatment. The objectives of this study were to compare the results from a culture-based mastitis pathogen detection test kit ('VetoRapid', Vétoquinol) with standard laboratory culture and to evaluate the potential suitability of the test kit to inform a selective treatment programme. Overall 231 quarter milk samples from five UK dairy farms were collected. The sensitivity and specificity of the test kit for the identification of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, coagulase-negative staphylococci, Streptococcus uberis and Enterococcus spp. ranged from 17 per cent to 84 per cent and 92 per cent to 98 per cent, respectively. In total, 23 of 68 clinical samples were assigned as meeting the requirement for antimicrobial treatment (Gram-positive organism cultured) according to standard culture results, with the test kit results having sensitivity and specificity of 91 per cent and 78 per cent, respectively. Several occurrences of misidentification are reported, including S. aureus being misidentified as coagulase-negative staphylococci and vice versa. The test kit provides rapid preliminary identification of five common causes of bovine mastitis under UK field conditions and is likely to be suitable for informing selective treatment of clinical mastitis caused by Gram-positive organisms.

Infectious disease represents a major threat to the productivity and welfare of cattle herds throughout the world. The introduction of infectious agents into dairy and beef farms may be through direct transmission (purchased cattle, reintroduced resident cattle and contact with contiguous cattle) or indirect transmission (fomites, visitors, other species, and biological materials) and this article reviews the evidence supporting these transmission routes. In the absence of eradication programmes for many endemic infectious diseases, bioexclusion is the key management process for risk reduction. Various ameliorative bioexclusion strategies have been recommended and the evidence supporting these protocols is considered.

A total of 102 horses that had a catheter introduced intravenously to facilitate treatment had the catheterised jugular vein and contralateral vein examined by ultrasound every 48 hours. Subclinical complications were defined by thrombus formation or thickening of the venous wall, and the data were analysed to establish risk factors for the development of these complications. The horses with a rectal temperature above 38.5 degrees C when the catheter was introduced were four times more likely to develop complications, than the horses with a lower temperature. The administration of a NSAID while the catheter was in place reduced the risk of complications developing.

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