In the UK and Ireland, the European badger is the main wildlife reservoir for Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis), the causal agent of bovine tuberculosis (bTB). The ability to diagnose M.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Ewing sarcoma (ES) is a malignant, aggressive tumor most frequently diagnosed among pediatric and adolescent populations. Patients with ES in low-middle income countries (LMIC) have dismal outcomes. The aim of this study is to evaluate the outcomes in children and adolescents with ES treated using a multimodal uniform treatment protocol.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBadgers () are a major tuberculosis (TB) reservoir in Europe, with the potential to transmit infection to cattle. Here we assessed whether a recently described oral tuberculosis vaccine based on heat-inactivated (HIMB) delivered as edible baits, can protect badgers from infection. Eight badgers were given individually five baits, each one consisting of a ball of peanut butter, natural peanut and oat flakes including a dose of the vaccine containing 5 × 10 colony-forming units.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn wildlife disease management there are few diseases for which vaccination is a viable option. The human vaccine BCG has been used for the control of bovine tuberculosis in badgers since 2010 and is expected to increase. Understanding the long-term effects of repeated vaccination campaigns on disease prevalence is vital, but modelling thus far has generally assumed that a vaccine provides perfect protection to a proportion of the population, and that animals exposed to a repeated vaccination have a second independent chance of becoming protected.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBovine tuberculosis (TB) in Great Britain adversely affects animal health and welfare and is a cause of considerable economic loss. The situation is exacerbated by European badgers () acting as a wildlife source of recurrent infection to cattle. Vaccination of badgers against TB is a possible means to reduce and control bovine TB.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTuberculosis (TB) vaccination could be used as a key part of integrated strategies for the disease's control if an effective and safe vaccine under field conditions is obtained. Recent studies in Spain have evaluated the protective efficacy of two oral vaccines against experimental challenge with live intra-bronchial in captive badgers: the live-attenuated BCG vaccine (Danish strain) and a heat-inactivated (HIMB) vaccine. With the objective of increasing the knowledge of the cellular development progress of infection and generating further tools to discriminate between mild and severe TB lesions between and within animals, the immunopathology of tuberculous lesions was studied to characterize the local immune response (cell type profile) within lung granulomas from control (non-vaccinated), BCG vaccinated and HIMB-vaccinated experimentally infected badgers with .
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBovine tuberculosis (bTB), caused by Mycobacterium bovis, represents a major animal health issue. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, European badgers (Meles meles) have been shown to act as a reservoir of M. bovis infection, hindering the eradication of bTB in livestock.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn Europe, badgers () are recognized as major tuberculosis (TB) reservoir hosts with the potential to transmit infection to associated cattle herds. Recent studies in Spain have demonstrated that vaccination with a heat-inactivated vaccine (HIMB) successfully protects captive wild boar and red deer against progressive disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of two oral vaccines against TB in a badger model: the live-attenuated bacillus Calmette-Guérin BCG vaccine (Danish strain) and a HIMB vaccine.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEuropean badgers (Meles meles) have been identified as wildlife reservoirs for Mycobacterium bovis in the UK and Ireland, and may also have a role in the epidemiology of animal tuberculosis in other European regions. Thus, detection of M. bovis-infected badgers may be required for the purposes of surveillance and monitoring of disease levels in infected populations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEuropean badgers (Meles meles) are a wildlife reservoir for Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis) in parts of England, Wales and Ireland, constituting a potential source of tuberculosis (TB) infection for cattle. Vaccination of badgers against TB is one of the tools available for helping reduce the prevalence of bovine TB in badgers, made possible by the licensing in 2010 of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine for intramuscular administration to badgers (BadgerBCG).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Cell Infect Microbiol
September 2017
The European badger () is a reservoir host of and responsible for a proportion of the tuberculosis (TB) cases seen in cattle in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. An injectable preparation of the (BCG) vaccine is licensed for use in badgers in the UK and its use forms part of the bovine TB eradication plans of England and Wales. However, there are practical limitations to the widespread application of an injectable vaccine for badgers and a research priority is the development of an oral vaccine deliverable to badgers in bait.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe prevalence, distribution and pathology related to infection with Mycobacterium bovis and other mycobacteria were determined in trapped (n=36) and road-killed (n=121) badgers in Spain from 2006 to 2010. The prevalence of M. bovis based on bacteriological culture from road-killed badgers was 8/121 (6.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMycobacterium bovis infection is widespread in Eurasian badger (Meles meles) populations in Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland where they act as a wildlife reservoir of infection for cattle. Removal of infected badgers can significantly reduce the incidence of bovine tuberculosis (TB) in local cattle herds. However, control measures based on culling of native wildlife are contentious and may even be detrimental to disease control.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFControl of bovine tuberculosis (TB) in cattle has proven particularly challenging where reservoirs of infection exist in wildlife populations. In Britain and Ireland, control is hampered by a reservoir of infection in Eurasian badgers (Meles meles). Badger culling has positive and negative effects on bovine TB in cattle and is difficult, costly and controversial.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this paper we report the development of a sensitive and specific assay for the detection of tuberculosis (TB) in European badgers (Meles meles), based on the stimulation of lymphocytes in whole-blood culture and the subsequent detection of gamma-interferon (IFNgamma) by sandwich ELISA. The comparative levels of IFNgamma produced to bovine and avian tuberculin (B-A) was used as the basis of determining the TB status of badgers, resulting in a more sensitive test than that based on the defined Mycobacterium bovis antigens ESAT6 and CFP10. The assay was evaluated using 235 badgers.
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