Trial Design to Estimate the Effect of Vaccination on Tuberculosis Incidence in Badgers

Inma Aznar , Guy Mcgrath , Denise Murphy (1) , Leigh A.L. Corner (2) , Eamonn Gormley (2) , Klaas Frankena (3) , Simon J. More , Wayne Martin (4) , James O'Keeffe (1) , Mart C.M. de Jong (3)

1 Department of Agriculture
2 Développement de l'enfant
3 WUR - Wageningen University and Research [Wageningen]
4 Department of Population Medicine

The principal wildlife reservoir of in Ireland is the European badger. Studies in the Republic of Ireland (RoI) have shown that badgers culled in association with cattle herd tuberculosis (TB) breakdowns (focal culling) have a higher prevalence of infection than the badger population at large. This observation is one rationale for the medium term national strategy of focal badger culling. A vaccination strategy for the control of TB in badgers is a preferred long-term option. The Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine has been shown to decrease disease severity in captive badgers under controlled conditions. As the vaccine has been tested in a controlled environment with precise information on infection pressure, it cannot be assumed that the effects of vaccination are similar in the wild, where other environmental and/or ecological factors prevail. For this reason we have designed a vaccine field trial to assess the impact of vaccination on the incidence of TB infection in a wild badger population.

Mots clés: Vaccine trial; badgers; BCG vaccine; Ireland; tuberculosis; M. bovis

Domaines: Médecine vétérinaire et santé animale

Inma Aznar, Guy Mcgrath, Denise Murphy, Leigh A.L. Corner, Eamonn Gormley, et al.. Trial Design to Estimate the Effect of Vaccination on Tuberculosis Incidence in Badgers. Veterinary Microbiology, 2011, 151 (1-2), pp.104. ⟨10.1016/j.vetmic.2011.02.032⟩. ⟨hal-00701908⟩