Bovine tuberculosis

 CAB International 2018. Bovine Tuberculosis
(eds M. Chambers, S. Gordon, F. Olea-Popelka, P. Barrow) 225

* Email: [email protected]

15.1 Orientation

Infection with Mycobacterium bovis (TB) impacts

on a wide spectrum of animals including man.

The reality of managing M. bovis, wherever it is

found, is that it requires adequate resources.

These are either lacking or prioritized for other

needs and wants for large sections of the world.

The World Bank has categorized countries

according to four income-related classes based

on their gross national income (GNI) per capita

in US dollars (The World Bank, 2016a). They

are: low, low–medium, medium–high and high

GNI economies. These categories provide an

approach for proposing management options

for bovine TB that take account of available

resources. For the purpose of this chapter, coun-

tries in the low, low–medium and medium–high

GNI economies will be considered together in one

category (low to medium–high) with countries

in the high GNI economy as a second category.

Analysis of data from the 168 OIE nations

that reported on their bovine TB status in 2015

(OIE, 2016a; see also Chapter 1) found that 66

(39%) reported as either ‘never had bovine TB’,

or their last reported case was prior to 2011.

One hundred and two countries (60%) reported

having had cases of bovine TB since 2010, and

90 (53%) reported infection in 2015. Of these

90, 23 (26%) reported presence of TB in wildlife

(OIE, 2016a). Categorizing these responses by

GNI economy groups identified bovine TB in

56% of the 54 high GNI countries, compared

with 70% of the 100 countries in the low to

medium–high GNI category.

From this it can be seen that high GNI econ-

omies have less M. bovis infection in livestock

relative to low to medium–high GNI economies.

Thus, a section has been devoted to features that

appear important for successful management of

TB in cattle, which is largely targeted at coun-

tries with a high GNI economy. The ability to

successfully manage infection in some of these

high GNI countries is being threatened by wild-

life TB maintenance hosts. Therefore, a section

provides a means of identifying and managing

this exposure. Finally, and probably most impor-

tantly, there is a section that describes the largely

under-diagnosed M. bovis-related problem fac-

ing people and livestock in low to medium–high

GNI countries and identifies some actions that

could be used to reduce the risk of exposure.

15.2 Features of Successful TB Cattle

Programmes in High GNI Countries

15.2.1 Introduction

The effective management of bovine TB in cattle

depends firstly on gaining agreement on the

15 Managing Bovine Tuberculosis:

Successes and Issues

Paul Livingstone1,* and Nick Hancox^2

(^1) TB Consultant, Domestic Animals and Wildlife, New Zealand;
(^2) OSPRI, New Zealand