Field trials for a vaccine to protect cattle against bovine tuberculosis (bovine TB) would need to involve 500 herds – potentially as many as 75,000-100,000 cattle – to demonstrate cost effectiveness for farmers, concludes a study published today in the journal eLife.
New diagnostic tests are needed to make vaccination against bovine tuberculosis (bovine TB) viable and the number of false positives from these tests must be below 15 out of every 10,000 cattle tested, according to research published today in the journal PLOS Computational Biology.
The majority of outbreaks of bovine TB within cattle herds are caused by multiple transmissions routes – including failed cattle infection tests, cattle movement and reinfection from environmental reservoirs such as infected pastures and wildlife – according to the first national model of bovine TB spread, published today.
Each year thousands of cattle are slaughtered to control the spread of bovine tuberculosis. New research reveals that testing misses many animals harbouring the disease and shows that large herds are particularly vulnerable to rapid transmission.
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