Epidemiology_of_Mycobacterium_bovis_in_Ethiopia

Bovine tuberculosis, caused by Mycobacterium bovis, has been eradicated from much of the developed world by a strategy based on test-and-slaughter of infected animals and dealing with any relevant local wildlife reservoir. Historically and prior to widespread pasteurisation of milk, the infection was a significant food-borne zoonosis, with around 40% of British cattle estimated infected, and around 2,500 people dying annually from the infection in Britain, most of them children. The current motivation for control in the developed world is the losses due to reduced milk yield and meat production, as well as from statutory controls. In contrast, bTB in cattle is largely uncontrolled in developing countries, although in many extensively managed situations the prevalence is not high. Intensive and extensive milk production is however a major Emerging Livestock System in Ethiopia around several urban centres and the prevalence of uncontrolled M. bovis infection in cattle in this system is high. Furthermore, most of the milk in the Ethiopian market system is not sold through the large dairies where pasteurisation is practised, but direct from small farmers in an unpasteurised form. In Ethiopia and elsewhere in resource poor settings in the developing world, removal of infected animals through testand- slaughter policies is economically unfeasible (at least nationally) and, as the milk market grows, so will the risk of zoonotic transmission. It is now timely to evaluate bTB control strategies feasible for developing countries, to reduce the incidence of the disease, from human and veterinary aspects.