Bovine Tuberculosis in Cattle and Badgers in Localized Culling Areas

Woodroffe, Rosie; Donnelly, Christl A.; Cox, David; Gilks, Peter; Jenkins, Helen E.; Johnston, W. Thomas; Fevre, Andrea M. Le; Bourne, F.J.; Cheeseman, C. L.; Clifton-Hadley, R. S.; Gettinby, G.; Hewinson, R. Glyn; McInerney, John; Mitchell, A.; Morrison, W. Ivan; Watkins, G.

doi:10.7589/0090-3558-45.1.128

Cited by 62 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…The utility of the approach has been demonstrated in New Zealand, where localized possum population control has been shown to cause subsequent reductions in the Tb reactor rate among adjacent cattle stocks (Caley et al 1999). However, in the UK and Ireland, the impact of experimental badger culling on concurrent disease in domestic stock is more complex, with culling both increasing and decreasing cattle Tb reactor rates, depending on the circumstances (Griffin et al 2005;Donnelly et al 2006;Carter et al 2007;McDonald et al 2008;Woodroffe et al 2009). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oral vaccination reduces the incidence of tuberculosis in free-living brushtail possums

et al. 2009

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Bovine tuberculosis (Tb) caused by Mycobacterium bovis has proved refractory to eradication from domestic livestock in countries with wildlife disease reservoirs. Vaccination of wild hosts offers a way of controlling Tb in livestock without wildlife culling. This study was conducted in a Tb-endemic region of New Zealand, where the introduced Australian brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) is the main wildlife reservoir of Tb. Possums were trapped and vaccinated using a prototype oraldelivery system to deliver the Tb vaccine bacille Calmette -Guerin. Vaccinated and control possums were matched according to age, sex and location, re-trapped bimonthly and assessed for Tb status by palpation and lesion aspiration; the site was depopulated after 2 years and post-mortem examinations were conducted to further identify clinical Tb cases and subclinical infection. Significantly fewer culture-confirmed Tb cases were recorded in vaccinated possums (1/51) compared with control animals (12/71); the transition probability from susceptible to infected was significantly reduced in both males and females by vaccination. Vaccine efficacy was estimated at 95 per cent (87-100%) for females and 96 per cent (82-99%) for males. Hence, this trial demonstrates that orally delivered live bacterial vaccines can significantly protect wildlife against natural disease exposure, indicating that wildlife vaccination, along with existing control methods, could be used to eradicate Tb from domestic animals.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oral vaccination reduces the incidence of tuberculosis in free-living brushtail possums

et al. 2009

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“…Such culling reduces badger density (17), but also promotes dispersal into the culled area (18) as well as expanding badger ranging in and around the areas where culls occurred (19). In Britain these behavioral changes-termed social perturbation-have been linked to increases in the proportion of badgers infected with M. bovis (13,20), and reductions in the spatial clustering of infection (21). In cattle, the incidence of confirmed TB was reduced inside large culling areas where badger numbers were substantially suppressed by annual "proactive" culling.…”

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confidence: 99%

Badger responses to small-scale culling may compromise targeted control of bovine tuberculosis

Bielby

Donnelly

Pope

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Where wildlife disease requires management, culling is frequently considered but not always effective. In the British Isles, control of cattle tuberculosis (TB) is hindered by infection in wild badger (Meles meles) populations. Large-scale badger culling can reduce the incidence of confirmed cattle TB, but these benefits are undermined by culling-induced changes in badger behavior (termed perturbation), which can increase transmission among badgers and from badgers to cattle. Test-vaccinate/remove (TVR) is a novel approach that entails testing individual badgers for infection, vaccinating test-negative animals, and killing test-positive animals. Imperfect capture success, diagnostic sensitivity, and vaccine effectiveness mean that TVR would be expected to leave some infected and some susceptible badgers in the population. Existing simulation models predict that TVR could reduce cattle TB if such smallscale culling causes no perturbation, but could increase cattle TB if considerable perturbation occurs. Using data from a long-term study, we show that past small-scale culling was significantly associated with four metrics of perturbation in badgers: expanded ranging, more frequent immigration, lower genetic relatedness, and elevated prevalence of Mycobacterium bovis, the causative agent of TB. Though we could not reject the hypothesis that culling up to three badgers per social group might avoid perturbation, we also could not reject the hypothesis that killing a single badger prompted detectable perturbation. When considered alongside existing model predictions, our findings suggest that implementation of TVR, scheduled for 2014, risks exacerbating the TB problem rather than controlling it. Ongoing illegal badger culling is likewise expected to increase cattle TB risks.zoonotic disease | epidemiology | Bacillus Calmette-Guérin | wildlife management

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“…By way of example, Woodroffe et al (2009) observe that field studies have so far found little to support the commonly assumed positive correlation between badger group size and bTB infection. Their own work on evidence from areas in the RBCT proactive culls suggests a lower than expected prevalence in large groups, although the size of those groups nevertheless meant higher absolute numbers of infected badgers, therefore maintaining the risk of spread to cattle.…”

Section: #5 Molecular Geographies and Statistical Modellingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More Defra-sponsored work is now proceeding on the home ranges of these bTB genotypes and it seems that each local variety has found expression in the bodies of both cattle and badgers (Olea-Popelka et al, 2005;Woodroffe et al, 2009). As a result, the interspecies pooling of infection is now more certain than ever, although Goodchild et al (2012) found that over short distances genotype dissimilarity is greater in cattle than in badgers and they conclude (page 8), as a result, that this is "evidence that cattle were exposed to other sources of infection", presumably other cattle.…”

Section: #5 Molecular Geographies and Statistical Modellingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Coalition Culls and Zoonotic Ontologies

Atkins

Robinson

2013

Environ Plan A

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. (2013) 'Coalition culls and zoonotic ontologies. ', Environment and planning A., 45 (6). pp. 1372-1386. Further information on publisher's website:http://dx.doi.org/10.1068/a45668Publisher's copyright statement: P.J. Atkins and P.A. Robinson 2013. The de nitive peer-reviewed and edited version of this article is published in Environment and Planning A, 45(6) pp. 1372-1386, 2013, 10.1068/a45668 Additional information: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-pro t purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. Coalition culls and zoonotic ontologies AbstractDiseases which can pass between animals and humans (zoonoses) have been headline news several times in the last ten years. This paper looks at bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in the United Kingdom, which, although not a major health hazard for humans, has been problematic for farmers and the veterinary health institutions. At its current rate of spread, the disease will cost the authorities £1 billion in compensation to farmers for slaughtered animals and in administrative expenses over the next decade. The present Coalition government are planning to cull badgers in England because they are the principal wildlife reservoir of bTB and are said to pass infection to cattle. We argue in five stories that the heterogeneities of bTB help explain the difficulties in dealing with it. In our opinion the present reductive set of policies would be improved by taking this ontological multiplicity into account.

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Bovine Tuberculosis in Cattle and Badgers in Localized Culling Areas

Cited by 62 publications

References 22 publications

Oral vaccination reduces the incidence of tuberculosis in free-living brushtail possums

Oral vaccination reduces the incidence of tuberculosis in free-living brushtail possums

Badger responses to small-scale culling may compromise targeted control of bovine tuberculosis

Coalition Culls and Zoonotic Ontologies

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