TY - JOUR
T1 - Positive and negative effects of widespread badger culling on tuberculosis in cattle
AU - Donnelly, C.A.
AU - Woodroffe, R.
AU - Cox, D.R.
AU - Bourne, F.J.
AU - Cheeseman, C.L.
AU - Clifton-Hadley, Richard S.
AU - Wei, G.
AU - Gettinby, G.
N1 - Strathprints' policy is to record up to 8 authors per publication, plus any additional authors based at the University of Strathclyde. More authors may be listed on the official publication than appear in the Strathprints' record.
PY - 2006/2/16
Y1 - 2006/2/16
N2 - Human and livestock diseases can be difficult to control where infection persists in wildlife populations. For three decades, European badgers (Meles meles) have been culled by the British government in a series of attempts to limit the spread of Mycobacterium bovis, the causative agent of bovine tuberculosis (TB), to cattle(1). Despite these efforts, the incidence of TB in cattle has risen consistently, re-emerging as a primary concern for Britain's cattle industry. Recently, badger culling has attracted controversy because experimental studies have reached contrasting conclusions ( albeit using different protocols), with culled areas showing either markedly reduced(2,3) or increased(4,5) incidence of TB in cattle. This has confused attempts to develop a science-based management policy. Here we use data from a large-scale, randomized field experiment to help resolve these apparent differences. We show that, as carried out in this experiment, culling reduces cattle TB incidence in the areas that are culled, but increases incidence in adjoining areas. These findings are biologically consistent with previous studies(2-5) but will present challenges for policy development.
AB - Human and livestock diseases can be difficult to control where infection persists in wildlife populations. For three decades, European badgers (Meles meles) have been culled by the British government in a series of attempts to limit the spread of Mycobacterium bovis, the causative agent of bovine tuberculosis (TB), to cattle(1). Despite these efforts, the incidence of TB in cattle has risen consistently, re-emerging as a primary concern for Britain's cattle industry. Recently, badger culling has attracted controversy because experimental studies have reached contrasting conclusions ( albeit using different protocols), with culled areas showing either markedly reduced(2,3) or increased(4,5) incidence of TB in cattle. This has confused attempts to develop a science-based management policy. Here we use data from a large-scale, randomized field experiment to help resolve these apparent differences. We show that, as carried out in this experiment, culling reduces cattle TB incidence in the areas that are culled, but increases incidence in adjoining areas. These findings are biologically consistent with previous studies(2-5) but will present challenges for policy development.
KW - mycobacterium bovis infection
KW - meles-meles
KW - Ireland
KW - Badger culling
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature04454
U2 - 10.1038/nature04454
DO - 10.1038/nature04454
M3 - Article
SN - 0028-0836
VL - 439
SP - 843
EP - 846
JO - Nature
JF - Nature
IS - 7078
ER -