IMPACTS OF BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS AND SEASONAL FORAGING OF BDGER

IMPACTS OF BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS AND SEASONAL FORAGING OF BDGER

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ABSTRACT.

The zoonotic Mycobacterium bovis is a pathogen that is significant to dairy animals. The pathogen affects cattle but has a wider range of hosts including humans, it causes a chronic infection in cattle known as Bovine tuberculosis. This disease remains to be an economic and public problem in several countries. The disease is characterized by a specific granulomatous lesion that progressively develops in lung tissue and lymph node. Bovine species such as the buffalo are susceptible to the disease but also warm-blooded animals can be affected. In Africa, bovine tuberculosis affected mostly the cattle but infection to domestic animals such as sheep and pigs is not common. (Vordermeier,2016) The natural reservoirs for infections agent in the wild include wild ruminants and carnivores.

People surviving from HIV and AIDS are at high risk of the disease. In Africa, the disease is known to be Mycobacterium tuberculosis. According to the World Health Organization, the disease in humans is caused by the consumption of unpasteurized milk, poorly uncooked meat, and close contact with the infected animal.

Two diagnostic tests have been considered for this disease one is cellular response and the other is identifying the anergic animals by detecting specific antibodies to M. Bovis. As a result of limited laboratory, diagnosis to distinguish between Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium bovis the infection in humans is under-reported.

In Britain, Badgers are known to be wild reservoirs for Mycobacterium bovis hence causes the transmission to domestic cattle. According to the study carried out badgers will not be coincided with cattle at the same time but transmission occurs because the badgers utilize the same water trough with the cattle in the field. Cattles are found in badgers location example the setts where more times when badgers are found in cattle location.

The study for this report was to examine how the disease state of badgers affects their seasonal movement. Also, to examine the badgers if infected or not infected with Mycobacterium bovis by taking a blood sample. The serological test was used to detect the presence of antibodies.  This test is less sensitive but more specific. However, it is difficult to obtain blood samples from the badgers. Zeihl -Neelsen staining is another technique to determine bovine tuberculosis.

RESULT

As per the many types of research done on the foraging behaviors of badgers, most of the farms were visited by badgers in at least a night. A few of the farms also had more than 10 nights of farm-night visits. The visiting time was between evening hours and early morning hours. In spring the visits were more frequent and were negatively related to the minimum daily temperatures. Badgers were more frequent in seasons that had low rainfall count.

Temperature affected the badgers’ movement negatively. Badgers did not frequently visit farms and therefore approximately ten hours total time accounted for their visits. One visit can be approximately 1-39 minutes. The frequency of visits differed seasonally. The badger frequent visits were to the meal stores and cattle sheds.

Cat, rodents, and red fox among other species visited the farm buildings. Cats were the most frequent compared to rodents and red fox visiting occasions.

Table 1. Frequency of badger visits(number of unique detection in summer and in winter )per firm ( Delahay,2017)

DISCUSSION

There was at least one badger detection in farms indicating the biosecurity posed by the badgers. Badgers were identified to avoid the pasture with grazing cattle but exhibiting a positive relationship with the sheep. During winter the badgers were frequently detected since the cattle were housed and hence low natural food available and longer darkness hours.

In summer and winter, the badgers were observed in cattle troughs. The sole locations of the badgers were the cattle troughs and a bit of restriction suggested that badgers’ visits were eliminated. ( Campbell,2019)To reduce these visits and badgers’ access to their locations the troughs are to be raised off the ground but not necessarily eliminate.

The prevalence of badgers to cattle transmission in 2010 shows that the interval of 5500-14000 badgers serves as reservoirs of Bovine tuberculosis and 31000 cattle are exposed to the source. ( Downs,2019) The transmission of bovine tuberculosis from badgers to cattle is 10.4 times more likely to spread. The transmission occurs at a higher rate within species than between species. The example between cattle to badgers or badgers to cattle.

According to UK studies over four years 423 badgers were captured and 40 were found to have  M.bovis.

Impacts of Bovine tuberculosis.

It is a chronic disease caused by a bacterium cause human and avian tuberculosis. it causes general state illness, cough, and finally death. It is transmitted from animal to humans, Badgers are the reservoir of the disease and transmit it to cattle later human.

Seasonal movement of badgers

Social behavior of badgers facilitates the interaction with the cattle thus when the badger is infected there is a high risk of transmission. Badgers are nocturnal and live in sett that is located outside their territory. Badgers feed on diversity dietary example they can feed on insects, invertebrate, fruits, and vegetables. (Ham, 2019) During food scarcity, badgers share the pasture with cattle increases the risk of transmitting the disease. Additionally, the interaction of badgers with cattle in locations where they are housed increases the transmission cycle between the animals.

Epidemiology of bovine tuberculosis transmission from badgers to cattle.

The risk of transmission from badgers to cattle arises as a result of the prevalence of infection of badgers’ population. The minimum infection dose of the badgers and cattle is the route and level of excretion from infected badger and the route of exposure to the cattle.

There are two routes of transmission from the badgers to cattle: aerosol infection and ingestion of contaminated food with infectious badgers. The primary site for infection is the lungs which are demonstrated by lung lesion and culture infection in the lungs of badgers and cattle.  For aerosol transmission to occur there must be close contact between the badgers and the cattle, the risk lasts only for a short time before the aerosol is dispersed.

Reference

Vordermeier, H. M., Jones, G. J., Buddle, B. M., Hewinson, R. G., & Villarreal-Ramos, B. (2016). Bovine tuberculosis in cattle: vaccines, DIVA tests, and host biomarker discovery. Annual review of animal biosciences, 4, 87-109.

Downs, S. H., Prosser, A., Ashton, A., Ashfield, S., Brunton, L. A., Brouwer, A., … & Parry, J. E. (2019). Assessing effects from four years of industry-led badger culling in England on the incidence of bovine tuberculosis in cattle, 2013–2017. Scientific reports, 9(1), 1-14.

Ham, C., Donnelly, C. A., Astley, K. L., Jackson, S. Y., & Woodroffe, R. (2019). Effect of culling on individual badger Meles meles behavior: Potential implications for bovine tuberculosis transmission. Journal of Applied Ecology, 56(11), 2390-2399Silk, M. J., Weber, N., Steward, L. C.,

Delahay, R. J., Croft, D. P., Hodgson, D. J., … & McDonald, R. A. (2017). Seasonal variation in daily patterns of social contacts in the European badger Meles meles. Ecology and Evolution, 7(21), 9006-9015

. Campbell, E. L., Byrne, A. W., Menzies, F. D., McBride, K. R., McCormick, C. M., Scantlebury, M., & Reid, N. (2019). Interspecific visitation of cattle and badgers to fomites: A transmission risk for bovine tuberculosis?. Ecology and Evolution, 9(15), 8479-8489.