Fasciola hepatica is associated with the failure to detect bovine tuberculosis in dairy cattle

Jen Claridge, Peter Diggle, Catherine M. McCann, Grace Mulcahy, Rob Flynn, Jim McNair, Sam Strain, Michael Welsh, Matthew Baylis and Diana J.L. Williams ()
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Jen Claridge: Institute of Infection and Global Health and School of Veterinary Science, University of Liverpool
Peter Diggle: Institute of Infection and Global Health and School of Veterinary Science, University of Liverpool
Catherine M. McCann: Institute of Infection and Global Health and School of Veterinary Science, University of Liverpool
Grace Mulcahy: School of Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin
Rob Flynn: School of Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin
Jim McNair: Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute
Sam Strain: Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute
Michael Welsh: Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute
Matthew Baylis: Institute of Infection and Global Health and School of Veterinary Science, University of Liverpool
Diana J.L. Williams: Institute of Infection and Global Health and School of Veterinary Science, University of Liverpool

Nature Communications, 2012, vol. 3, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract 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.

Date: 2012
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1840

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