TY - JOUR
T1 - Fasciola hepatica is associated with the failure to detect bovine tuberculosis in dairy cattle
AU - Claridge, Jen
AU - Diggle, Peter
AU - McCann, Catherine M.
AU - Mulcahy, Grace
AU - Flynn, Rob
AU - McNair, Jim
AU - Strain, Sam
AU - Welsh, Michael
AU - Baylis, Matthew
AU - Williams, Diana J.L.
PY - 2012/1/1
Y1 - 2012/1/1
N2 - Bovine tuberculosis (BTB) is a significant and intractable disease of cattle caused by Mycobacterium bovis. In the United Kingdom, despite an aggressive eradication programme, the prevalence of BTB is increasing with an unexplained, exponential rise in cases year on year. Here we show in a study involving 3,026 dairy herds in England and Wales that there is a significant negative association between exposure to the common, ubiquitous helminth parasite, Fasciola hepatica and diagnosis of BTB. The magnitude of the single intradermal comparative cervical tuberculin test used to diagnose BTB is reduced in cattle experimentally co-infected with M. bovis and F. hepatica. We estimate an under-ascertainment rate of about one-third (95% confidence interval 27-38%) among our study farms, in the hypothetical situation of no exposure to F. hepatica. This finding may in part explain the continuing spread of BTB and the failure of the current eradication programme in the United Kingdom.
AB - Bovine tuberculosis (BTB) is a significant and intractable disease of cattle caused by Mycobacterium bovis. In the United Kingdom, despite an aggressive eradication programme, the prevalence of BTB is increasing with an unexplained, exponential rise in cases year on year. Here we show in a study involving 3,026 dairy herds in England and Wales that there is a significant negative association between exposure to the common, ubiquitous helminth parasite, Fasciola hepatica and diagnosis of BTB. The magnitude of the single intradermal comparative cervical tuberculin test used to diagnose BTB is reduced in cattle experimentally co-infected with M. bovis and F. hepatica. We estimate an under-ascertainment rate of about one-third (95% confidence interval 27-38%) among our study farms, in the hypothetical situation of no exposure to F. hepatica. This finding may in part explain the continuing spread of BTB and the failure of the current eradication programme in the United Kingdom.
U2 - 10.1038/ncomms1840
DO - 10.1038/ncomms1840
M3 - Article
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 3
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
M1 - 853
ER -
