Interspecific visitation of cattle and badgers to fomites: A transmission risk for bovine tuberculosis?
Abstract In Great Britain and Ireland, badgers (Meles meles) are a wildlife reservoir of Mycobacterium bovis and implicated in bovine tuberculosis transmission to domestic cattle. The route of disease transmission is unknown with direct, so‐called “nose‐to‐nose,” contact between hosts being extremel...
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doaj-1d3108ec17914072bffcca6a571ed2242021-03-02T08:57:55ZengWileyEcology and Evolution2045-77582019-08-019158479848910.1002/ece3.5282Interspecific visitation of cattle and badgers to fomites: A transmission risk for bovine tuberculosis?Emma L. Campbell0Andrew W. Byrne1Fraser D. Menzies2Kathryn R. McBride3Carl M. McCormick4Michael Scantlebury5Neil Reid6School of Biological Sciences Queen's University Belfast Belfast UKSchool of Biological Sciences Queen's University Belfast Belfast UKVeterinary Epidemiology Unit, Department of Agriculture Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) Belfast UKVeterinary Epidemiology Unit, Department of Agriculture Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) Belfast UKVeterinary Sciences Division Agri‐Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) Belfast UKSchool of Biological Sciences Queen's University Belfast Belfast UKSchool of Biological Sciences Queen's University Belfast Belfast UKAbstract In Great Britain and Ireland, badgers (Meles meles) are a wildlife reservoir of Mycobacterium bovis and implicated in bovine tuberculosis transmission to domestic cattle. The route of disease transmission is unknown with direct, so‐called “nose‐to‐nose,” contact between hosts being extremely rare. Camera traps were deployed for 64,464 hr on 34 farms to quantify cattle and badger visitation rates in space and time at six farm locations. Badger presence never coincided with cattle presence at the same time, with badger and cattle detection at the same location but at different times being negatively correlated. Badgers were never recorded within farmyards during the present study. Badgers utilized cattle water troughs in fields, but detections were infrequent (equivalent to one badger observed drinking every 87 days). Cattle presence at badger‐associated locations, for example, setts and latrines, were three times more frequent than badger presence at cattle‐associated locations, for example, water troughs. Preventing cattle access to badger setts and latrines and restricting badger access to cattle water troughs may potentially reduce interspecific bTB transmission through reduced indirect contact.https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5282camera trappingdisease ecologyMeles melesMycobacterium bovissurveillancewildlife–livestock interface |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Emma L. Campbell Andrew W. Byrne Fraser D. Menzies Kathryn R. McBride Carl M. McCormick Michael Scantlebury Neil Reid |
spellingShingle |
Emma L. Campbell Andrew W. Byrne Fraser D. Menzies Kathryn R. McBride Carl M. McCormick Michael Scantlebury Neil Reid Interspecific visitation of cattle and badgers to fomites: A transmission risk for bovine tuberculosis? Ecology and Evolution camera trapping disease ecology Meles meles Mycobacterium bovis surveillance wildlife–livestock interface |
author_facet |
Emma L. Campbell Andrew W. Byrne Fraser D. Menzies Kathryn R. McBride Carl M. McCormick Michael Scantlebury Neil Reid |
author_sort |
Emma L. Campbell |
title |
Interspecific visitation of cattle and badgers to fomites: A transmission risk for bovine tuberculosis? |
title_short |
Interspecific visitation of cattle and badgers to fomites: A transmission risk for bovine tuberculosis? |
title_full |
Interspecific visitation of cattle and badgers to fomites: A transmission risk for bovine tuberculosis? |
title_fullStr |
Interspecific visitation of cattle and badgers to fomites: A transmission risk for bovine tuberculosis? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Interspecific visitation of cattle and badgers to fomites: A transmission risk for bovine tuberculosis? |
title_sort |
interspecific visitation of cattle and badgers to fomites: a transmission risk for bovine tuberculosis? |
publisher |
Wiley |
series |
Ecology and Evolution |
issn |
2045-7758 |
publishDate |
2019-08-01 |
description |
Abstract In Great Britain and Ireland, badgers (Meles meles) are a wildlife reservoir of Mycobacterium bovis and implicated in bovine tuberculosis transmission to domestic cattle. The route of disease transmission is unknown with direct, so‐called “nose‐to‐nose,” contact between hosts being extremely rare. Camera traps were deployed for 64,464 hr on 34 farms to quantify cattle and badger visitation rates in space and time at six farm locations. Badger presence never coincided with cattle presence at the same time, with badger and cattle detection at the same location but at different times being negatively correlated. Badgers were never recorded within farmyards during the present study. Badgers utilized cattle water troughs in fields, but detections were infrequent (equivalent to one badger observed drinking every 87 days). Cattle presence at badger‐associated locations, for example, setts and latrines, were three times more frequent than badger presence at cattle‐associated locations, for example, water troughs. Preventing cattle access to badger setts and latrines and restricting badger access to cattle water troughs may potentially reduce interspecific bTB transmission through reduced indirect contact. |
topic |
camera trapping disease ecology Meles meles Mycobacterium bovis surveillance wildlife–livestock interface |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5282 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT emmalcampbell interspecificvisitationofcattleandbadgerstofomitesatransmissionriskforbovinetuberculosis AT andrewwbyrne interspecificvisitationofcattleandbadgerstofomitesatransmissionriskforbovinetuberculosis AT fraserdmenzies interspecificvisitationofcattleandbadgerstofomitesatransmissionriskforbovinetuberculosis AT kathrynrmcbride interspecificvisitationofcattleandbadgerstofomitesatransmissionriskforbovinetuberculosis AT carlmmccormick interspecificvisitationofcattleandbadgerstofomitesatransmissionriskforbovinetuberculosis AT michaelscantlebury interspecificvisitationofcattleandbadgerstofomitesatransmissionriskforbovinetuberculosis AT neilreid interspecificvisitationofcattleandbadgerstofomitesatransmissionriskforbovinetuberculosis |
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