Epidemiological Investigation of Bovine Tuberculosis Herd Breakdowns in Spain 2009/2011
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Author
Guta, Sintayehu
Saez, Jose Luis
Garcia-Saenz, Ariadna
Romero, Beatriz
Alvarez, Julio
Publication date
2014-08-15ISSN
1932-6203
Abstract
We analyzed the most likely cause of 687 bovine tuberculosis (bTB) breakdowns detected in Spain between 2009 and 2011 (i.e., 22% of the total number of breakdowns detected during this period). Seven possible causes were considered: i) residual infection; ii) introduction of infected cattle from other herds; iii) sharing of pastures with infected herds; iv) contiguous spread from infected neighbor herds; v) presence of infected goats in the farm; vi) interaction with wildlife reservoirs and vii) contact with an infected human. For each possible cause a decision tree was developed and key questions were Included in each of them. Answers to these key questions lead to different events within each decision tree. In order to assess the likelihood of occurrence of the different events a qualitative risk assessment approach was used. For this purpose, an expert opinion workshop was organized and ordinal values, ranging from 0 to 9 (i.e., null to very high likelihood of occurrence) were assigned. The analysis identified residual infection as the most frequent cause of bTB breakdowns (22.3%; 95%CI: 19.4–25.6), followed by interaction with wildlife reservoirs (13.1%; 95%CI: 10.8–15.8). The introduction of infected cattle, sharing
of pastures and contiguous spread from infected neighbour herds were also identified as relevant causes. In 41.6% (95%CI:38.0–45.4) of the breakdowns the origin of infection remained unknown. Veterinary officers conducting bTB breakdown investigations have to state their opinion about the possible cause of each breakdown. Comparison between the results of our analysis and the opinion from veterinary officers revealed a slight concordance. This slight agreement might reflect a lack of harmonized criteria to assess the most likely cause of bTB breakdowns as well as different perceptions about the importance of the possible causes. This is especially relevant in the case of the role of wildlife reservoirs.
Document Type
Article
Document version
Published version
Language
English
Subject (CDU)
619 - Veterinary science
Pages
12
Publisher
Public Library of Science
Is part of
PLoS ONE
Citation
Guta, Sintayehu, Jordi Casal, Sebastian Napp, Jose Luis Saez, Ariadna Garcia-Saenz, Bernat Perez de Val, Beatriz Romero, Julio Alvarez, and Alberto Allepuz. 2014. "Epidemiological Investigation Of Bovine Tuberculosis Herd Breakdowns In Spain 2009/2011". Plos ONE 9 (8): e104383. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0104383.
Grant agreement number
MICINN/Programa Nacional de Proyectos de Investigación Fundamental/AGL2010-21098/ES/EPIDEMIOLOGIA ESPACIAL DE LA TUBERCULOSIS BOVINA EN ANIMALES DOMESTICOS EN ESPAÑA: ESTUDIO DE LA PERSISTENCIA Y DE NUEVAS INFECCIONES. EVALUACION DE LA VIGILANCIA/
Program
Sanitat Animal
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
- ARTICLES CIENTÍFICS [2850]
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/