Quantification of the Animal Tuberculosis Multi-Host Community Offers Insights for Control

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2020

Authors

Gortazar, C (Author) Other; Santos, N (Author) Other; Richomme, C (Author) Other; Nunes, T (Author) Other; Vicente, J (Author) Other; Alves, PC (Author) FCUP; de la Fuente, J (Author) Other; Correia Neves, M (Author) Other; Boschiroli, ML (Author) Other; Delahay, R (Author) Other

Journal

Title: Pathogens

Vol. 9

Final page: 421

Publisher: MDPI

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 29 Citations

Scopus - 28 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00S-8F5

DOI: 10.3390/pathogens9060421

Abstract (EN): Animal tuberculosis (TB) is a multi-host zoonotic disease whose prevalence in cattle herds in Europe has been increasing, despite a huge investment in eradication. The composition of the host community is a fundamental driver of pathogen transmission, and yet this has not been formally quantified for animal TB in Europe. We quantified multi-host communities of animal TB, using stochastic models to estimate the number of infected domestic and wild hosts in three regions: officially TB-free Central-Western Europe, and two largely TB-endemic regions, the Iberian Peninsula and Britain and Ireland. We show that the estimated number of infected animals in the three regions was 290,059-1,605,612 and the numbers of infected non-bovine domestic and wild hosts always exceeded those of infected cattle, with ratios ranging from 3.3 (1.3-19.6):1 in Britain and Ireland to 84.3 (20.5-864):1 in the Iberian Peninsula. Our results illustrate for the first time the extent to which animal TB systems in some regions of Europe are dominated by non-bovine domestic and wild species. These findings highlight the need to adapt current strategies for effective future control of the disease.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 11