Successful control of Johne's disease in nine dairy herds: Results of a six-year field trial

Abstract

The objective was to evaluate if a standardized Johne's disease control program significantly reduced the prevalence of cattle infected with Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis in dairy herds with a moderate to high initial infection prevalence of >or=10% ELISA-positive adult cattle. Nine Wisconsin dairy herds of diverse sizes and management styles completed the 6-yr study. The control program involved changes to heifer rearing practices in combination with a routine testing program. For heifers, the program specifically required 1) segregated maternity pens for ELISA-positive and ELISA-negative cattle; 2) removal of calves from the maternity pen in <2h; 3) use of colostrum only from individual ELISA-negative cows (no colostrum pooling); 4) hygienic collection of colostrum; 5) feeding of pasteurized milk as milk replacer or on-farm pasteurized milk until weaning; and 6) minimizing contact with manure from the adult cattle until weaning. The testing program was designed to detect the most infectious cattle by using a commercial ELISA once on every adult during each lactation. Producers were required to cull cows with strong-positive ELISA results before the next calving and to label cows with low- to medium-level ELISA results and manage them to limit infection transmission. Outcomes were measured by comparing the apparent prevalence based on ELISA or fecal culture in the whole herd and in first-lactation cohorts at 2 time points: before implementation of the control program and at the end of the trial. The combined results from the 9 herds showed a significant reduction in ELISA-positive cows, from 11.6% at the start of the trial to 5.6% at conclusion of the trial. The apparent prevalence decline among first-lactation cows was greater and was evident by ELISA (10.4 vs. 3.0%) and by fecal culture (17.0 vs. 9.5%). Although variations among farms were observed, the collective results demonstrated that bovine paratuberculosis can be controlled in dairy herds through effective heifer husbandry practices in combination with diagnostic testing to identify, for culling or management, cows most likely infectious.

Relationship between Presence of Cows with Milk Positive for Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis-Specific Antibody by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay and Viable M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis in Dust in Cattle Barns

“…paratuberculosis shedding into the environment, because of the positive correlation of antibody titers and fecal shedding in infected cows (15,16). This concept is incorporated in Johne's disease control programs, as well (30,31). However, in this study, no such direct effect was observed.…”

Paratuberculosis: decrease in milk production of German Holstein dairy cows shedding Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis depends on within-herd prevalence

“…This is a much more realistic goal and is achievable in a shorter time. Collins et al (2010) reported a significant reduction in WHP from 11.6% at the beginning of their longitudinal study to 5.6% after 6 years. Communicating to farmers that economic goals may be more achievable by a focus on WHP reduction may motivate them to implement control measures against paratuberculosis in their herds.…”

“…There are marked differences between herds in WHP, and control programs are able to diminish the WHP within several years (Collins et al, 2010). Therefore, the objective of our study was to demonstrate the effect of the WHP as a herd-level factor on the individual milk yield reduction in FC+ compared with FC-negative (FC−) herd-mates.…”

Within-farm transmission of bovine paratuberculosis: recent developments

“…Recommended preventive measures are the improvement of hygienic measures associated with calving, separation of calf and dam as soon as possible after birth, and separation of young stock from adult cattle (Cetinkaya et al 1997;Johnson-Ifearulundu and Kaneene 1998;Muskens et al 2003). MAP control programs based on improving calf management and hygiene and removing test positive cows from the herd have been successful in decreasing prevalence but not to eradicate MAP (Benedictus et al 2008;Wells et al 2008;Ferrouillet et al 2009;Collins et al 2010). These findings indicate that not all MAP transmission routes are controlled by commonly implemented measures (Schukken et al 2009).…”