Economic impact of paratuberculosis in dairy cattle herds: a review

Abstract

Paratuberculosis (PTB) is a disease which causes considerable economic losses to producers of livestock, particularly dairy cows. Nowadays PTB is one of the most prevailing and costly infectious diseases of dairy cattle. The purpose of the present study was to review economic losses, which may be caused by Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) above all in herds of dairy cattle. The most important losses caused by the presence of clinically ill animals have been thoroughly described: loss of milk production and poor body condition followed by death or culling. In contrast, losses arising from a subclinical disease have not been well documented and contradictory results have been published to date. The calculation of losses caused by PTB depends to a certain degree on the production system in a herd, efficiency level, herd management system and other factors. Direct economic losses are above all caused by decreased milk production concurrent to increased incidence of mastitis, changes in milk parameters and increased somatic cell counts, reproductive dysfunctions, poor feed conversion, shortened production age and increased predisposition to other diseases etc. Indirect economic losses are caused by premature culling of animals and their unrealized future income, expenses for nonactive production, herd replacement, diagnostic testing, "unnecessary" veterinary care and establishing disease control programmes. Genetic value of animals and their progeny is lost. Last but not least, the reputation of the farm where MAP infected animals are kept is lost for a long-time, which is also important.Keywords: Johne's disease; MAP; dairy cattle; economic losses; Crohn's disease; IS900 List of abbreviations: AGIDT = agar gel immunodiffusion test; BVD = bovine viral diarrhoea; CFT = complement fixation test; EBL = enzootic bovine leucosis; ELISA = enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; GBP = Greit Britain Pound; IBR = infection bovine rhinotracheitis; LA% = lactation percentage; LAM = Lipoarabinomannan; MAP = Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis; ME = mature equivalent; NEB = negative energy balance; NOK = Norwegian Crown; PTB = paratuberculosis; SCC = somatic cell count; USD = United States Dollars; USDA = United States

Epidemiology and Management Strategies of Johne's disease in Endemic Situations

“…Paratuberculosis results in economic losses that are primarily associated with decreased milk production, decreased weaning weights in young calves, increased replacement costs, decreased slaughter value (Lombard, 2011) and early culling (Vázquez et al, 2012;Hasnova and Pavlik, 2006). Economic losses to dairy industry are significant (Lu et al, 2013a;Hasnova and Pavlik, 2006;Vidić et al, 2013); estimated losses to US dairy industry cost $200-250 million annually (Cho et al, 2012;Ottet et al, 1999).…”

“…Economic losses to dairy industry are significant (Lu et al, 2013a;Hasnova and Pavlik, 2006;Vidić et al, 2013); estimated losses to US dairy industry cost $200-250 million annually (Cho et al, 2012;Ottet et al, 1999). Pillars et al (2009) reported averaged $79/cow/year with a median of $66/cow/year annual losses due to paratuberculosis.…”

Genetic Structure of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis Population in Cattle Herds in Quebec as Revealed by Using a Combination of Multilocus Genomic Analyses

“…Paratuberculosis is a spectral disease characterized by an extended subclinical phase of several months or years, followed by an inevitable terminal clinical stage (2). Bovine paratuberculosis is endemic to most parts of the world, including Canada (3)(4)(5), and is considered one of the most costly infectious diseases of dairy cattle (6,7). In Canada, paratuberculosis has also been detected in sheep (8), goats (9), and wild ruminant species (10)(11)(12).…”

Trends and advances in the diagnosis and control of paratuberculosis in domestic livestock

“…Live MAP bacilli have been detected in food products such as paneer, milk (both fresh and pasteurized) and milk powder (Table 1). pTB is a chronic granulomatous enteritis characterized by weight loss, infertility, reduced productivity and producibility, progressive emaciation and untimely death, resulting in huge economic losses to the livestock industries worldwide (Hutchinson 1996;Johnson-Ifearulundu & Kaneene 1997;Ott et al 1999;Otte & Chilonda 2000;Groenendaal et al 2002;Groenendaal 2005;Hasonova and Pavlik 2006;Vinodhkumar et al 2013;. Control and eradication of pTB is difficult due to its insidious nature, long incubation period and lack of rapid and accurate diagnostic tests.…”