Limitations in the implementation of control measures for bovine paratuberculosis in infected Swiss dairy and beef herds

Klopfstein, Myriam; Leyer, Alexandra; Berchtold, Beat; Torgerson, Paul R.; Meylan, Mireille

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0245836

Cited by 11 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Attitudes of farmers towards the disease and their beliefs have been found to importantly influence their motivation to implement suggested management improvements in their farms [ 12 ]. Farmers’ decision making depends on intrinsic factors like farmers’ attitudes, beliefs and norms and extrinsic circumstances that include farmers’ knowledge about the disease and their ability to deal with it, as well as obstacles like limited time or money [ 13 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identification of different attitudes towards paratuberculosis control using cluster analysis applied on data from an anonymous survey among German cattle farmers

Zoche-Golob

Pützschel²,

Einax³

et al. 2021

Ir Vet J

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Background Paratuberculosis is a common disease in ruminants, causing economic losses in livestock farming, and a relationship between the exposure to its causative agent Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis, and Crohn’s disease in humans is discussed. Despite this, only a minority of cattle farmers have enroled in voluntary control programmes in most countries. Therefore, this study aimed at investigating the farmer’s opinion on paratuberculosis and their motivations to participate in a control programme. The objective was to identify different groups among farmers regarding their motivation and thereby contribute to a better understanding of farmers’ attitudes towards paratuberculosis control. Results Two hundred twenty-five farmers responded to questionnaires that were distributed among cattle farmers in Saxony and Thuringia, federal states of Germany, together with boot-swab sampling sets for a free and anonymous herd-level paratuberculosis test. Among them, dairy herds and large herds were overrepresented. A hierarchical cluster analysis of the farmers’ answers resulted in four groups that we tagged as ‘informed sceptics’, ‘deniers’, ‘affected supporters’ and ‘free supporters’. In all groups, the majority considered paratuberculosis a threat to the public image of cattle farmers. Nearly all participants wanted to know the paratuberculosis herd status of purchased cattle. In contrast to the supporters, the informed sceptics and the deniers did not consider paratuberculosis a dangerous epizootic disease and would not welcome a mandatory control programme. The deniers and the affected supporters, but not the informed sceptics and the free supporters, assumed that their herd is affected by paratuberculosis. Unlike the deniers, all other groups would enrol in a control programme if the pathogen would have been found in their herd. Protecting future profitability and improving animal health were the two most important motivations to control paratuberculosis in all groups followed by aspects related to the marketing of breeding cattle. Most frequently, the costs and the assumed inaccuracy of diagnostics tests were mentioned as obstacles that hamper programme enrolment. Conclusions Significantly different attitudes of farmers regarding paratuberculosis control were identified. Therefore, tailored rather than uniform communication strategies are required to enhance participation in voluntary paratuberculosis control programmes.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identification of different attitudes towards paratuberculosis control using cluster analysis applied on data from an anonymous survey among German cattle farmers

Zoche-Golob

Pützschel²,

Einax³

et al. 2021

Ir Vet J

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“…Test-and-cull and discarding the colostrum of serologically positive MAP animals was the approach followed by most farmers, as observed in studies conducted in other countries. 23 As suggested by Scarpellini et al, 10 test-and-cull seems to be an easy way to reduce MAP seroprevalence within the herd. On the other hand, premature culling and replacement costs may incur substantial economic losses, especially for farms with a high MAP seroprevalence.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Test‐and‐cull and discarding the colostrum of serologically positive MAP animals was the approach followed by most farmers, as observed in studies conducted in other countries 23 . As suggested by Scarpellini et al., 10 test‐and‐cull seems to be an easy way to reduce MAP seroprevalence within the herd.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Long‐term outcomes of the Italian Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis control programme for dairy cattle

Musolino,

Rampacci,

Tolasi

et al. 2024

Veterinary Record

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BackgroundThe considerable epidemiological and economic implications of paratuberculosis, caused by Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP), have placed importance on control efforts aimed at preventing MAP transmission. In this context, Italy issued national guidelines for the control and status certification of MAP in dairy cattle in 2013.MethodsWe assessed the long‐term outcomes of the Italian MAP control programme for 14 dairy farms located in northern Italy by retrospectively reviewing the results of yearly serological tests, presence of clinical cases, MAP faecal shedding in serologically positive animals, farm management and health ranking as indicators of herd health between 2014 and 2021.ResultsA significantly higher number of serologically positive animals were observed between 2014 and 2016 than between 2017 and 2021, as well as an improving trend in the paratuberculosis health ranking for nine of the 14 farms. No clinical cases were reported. MAP shedding was detected in 9.4% of serologically positive animals. Discarding colostrum and prioritised culling of seropositive animals assisted by adoption of standardised serological testing were presumed to have a key role in MAP control, despite the reluctance of some farmers to address hygienic issues and improve the separation of calves from adult animals.LimitationsThe small number of farms included in this study and the fact that these were not randomly selected may limit the generalisability of the findings.ConclusionsThe Italian paratuberculosis control plan has provided measures to limit the uncontrolled spread of MAP infection within and between herds by promoting animal trading between farms certified as negative or low risk.

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“…Prevalence and economic impact of Johne's disease JD is a global issue, though disease prevalence varies between countries and appears to be correlated to whether an informed control program is in available/complied with, and the accessibility/quality of diagnostics (Whittington et al, 2019;Jordan et al, 2020;Klopfstein et al, 2021). The unreliability of the diagnostic tests described in the previous section makes accurately determining prevalence difficult (Windsor and Whittington, 2010;Beaver et al, 2017;Mitchell et al, 2019;Garvey, 2020).…”

Section: Enzyme-linked Absorbance Assaysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alternatives to antibiotics in veterinary medicine: considerations for the management of Johne's disease

O'Connell

Coffey

O’Mahony

2023

Anim. Health. Res. Rev.

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Antibiotic resistance has become a major health concern globally, with current predictions expecting deaths related to resistant infections to surpass those of cancer by 2050. Major efforts are being undertaken to develop derivative and novel alternatives to current antibiotic therapies in human medicine. What appears to be lacking however, are similar efforts into researching the application of those alternatives, such as (bacterio)phage therapy, in veterinary contexts. Agriculture is still undoubtedly the most prominent consumer of antibiotics, with up to 70% of annual antibiotic usage attributed to this sector, despite policies to reduce their use in food animals. This not only increases the risk of resistant infections spreading from farm to community but also the risk that animals may acquire species-specific infections that subvert treatment. While these diseases may not directly affect human welfare, they greatly affect the profit margin of industries reliant on livestock due to the cost of treatments and (more frequently) the losses associated with animal death. This means actively combatting animal infection not only benefits animal welfare but also global economies. In particular, targeting recurring or chronic conditions associated with certain livestock has the potential to greatly reduce financial losses. This can be achieved by developing novel diagnostics to quickly identify ill animals alongside the design of novel therapies. To explore this concept further, this review employs Johne's disease, a chronic gastroenteritis condition that affects ruminants, as a case study to exemplify the benefits of rapid diagnostics and effective treatment of chronic disease, with particular regard to the diagnostic and therapeutic potential of phage.

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Limitations in the implementation of control measures for bovine paratuberculosis in infected Swiss dairy and beef herds

Cited by 11 publications

References 29 publications

Identification of different attitudes towards paratuberculosis control using cluster analysis applied on data from an anonymous survey among German cattle farmers

Identification of different attitudes towards paratuberculosis control using cluster analysis applied on data from an anonymous survey among German cattle farmers

Long‐term outcomes of the Italian Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis control programme for dairy cattle

Alternatives to antibiotics in veterinary medicine: considerations for the management of Johne's disease

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