Analysis of the cattle movement network and its association with the risk of bovine tuberculosis at the farm level in Castilla y Leon, Spain

Evaluation of Risk Factors Associated With Herds With an Increased Duration of Bovine Tuberculosis Breakdowns in Castilla y Leon, Spain (2010–2017)

“…The number of incoming animals in the 3 years preceding the start of the bTB breakdown was retained in the case-control logistic model based on AIC and in agreement with findings in the survival analysis, even though no significant differences between the variable categories were observed. Still, several studies have consistently evidenced that cattle movements may be important in bTB transmission (49,50), and even if positive farms were not clustered in the movement network in the region under study here, there was an association between increased connectivity and positivity at the farm level in a previous study (17).…”

“…Of these, >70% tested bTB positive for 2 or more years, showing that a major part of the bTB burden detected in the region is concentrated on a subset of herds. A study performed on the cattle movement network demonstrated that infected herds in this region were clustered in space but not in the movement network, suggesting that factors other than movements may be related to disease introduction and maintenance in at least a proportion of positive farms (17).…”

Corrigendum

“…In the article by Pozo et al (2019), the y‐axis values are incorrect for Figure 5. In addition, the word “infecteds” has been replaced with “infected herds” in axes titles.…”

Animal tuberculosis: impact of disease heterogeneity in transmission, diagnosis, and control

“…Several studies report the influence of population and community factors in the transmission rate and infectivity of M. bovis . Animal movement appears to be one of the most important factors contributing to TB epidemiology, with cattle movements shown to be essential in badger disease dynamics in France (Palisson, Courcoul, & Durand, 2016), leading to an increased prevalence at a farm level in Spain (Pozo et al, 2019), and being the main cause of disease spreading in Great Britain (Brooks‐Pollock, Roberts, & Keeling, 2014; Gilbert et al, 2005; Green, Kiss, Mitchell, & Kao, 2008). Animal movements were already used to develop epidemiological models to predict TB spread in United Kingdom (UK).…”