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The variability and seasonality of the environmental reservoir of Mycobacterium bovis shed by wild European badgers
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King, Hayley C., Murphy, Andrew, James, Phillip, Travis, Emma Rachel, Porter, David, Hung, Yu-Jiun, Sawyer, Jason, Cork, Jennifer, Delahay, Richard J., Gaze, William H., Courtenay, Orin and Wellington, E. M. H. (2015) The variability and seasonality of the environmental reservoir of Mycobacterium bovis shed by wild European badgers. Scientific Reports, 5 . pp. 1-7. 12318. doi:10.1038/srep12318 ISSN 2045-2322.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep12318
Abstract
The incidence of Mycobacterium bovis, the causative agent of bovine tuberculosis, has been increasing in UK cattle herds resulting in substantial economic losses. The European badger (Meles meles) is implicated as a wildlife reservoir of infection. One likely route of transmission to cattle is through exposure to infected badger urine and faeces. The relative importance of the environment in transmission remains unknown, in part due to the lack of information on the distribution and magnitude of environmental reservoirs. Here we identify potential infection hotspots in the badger population and quantify the heterogeneity in bacterial load; with infected badgers shedding between 1 × 103 − 4 × 105 M. bovis cells g−1 of faeces, creating a substantial and seasonally variable environmental reservoir. Our findings highlight the potential importance of monitoring environmental reservoirs of M. bovis which may constitute a component of disease spread that is currently overlooked and yet may be responsible for a proportion of transmission amongst badgers and onwards to cattle.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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Subjects: | S Agriculture > SF Animal culture | ||||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Life Sciences (2010- ) | ||||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Tuberculosis in cattle -- Transmission, Old World badgers as carriers of disease, Mycobacterium bovis | ||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Scientific Reports | ||||||||
Publisher: | Nature Publishing Group | ||||||||
ISSN: | 2045-2322 | ||||||||
Official Date: | 6 August 2015 | ||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 5 | ||||||||
Number of Pages: | 7 | ||||||||
Page Range: | pp. 1-7 | ||||||||
Article Number: | 12318 | ||||||||
DOI: | 10.1038/srep12318 | ||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | ||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 31 December 2015 | ||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 31 December 2015 | ||||||||
Funder: | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (Great Britain) (BBSRC) |
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