Bovine tuberculosis: within-herd transmission models to support and direct the decision-making process
Investigation article published in Research in Veterinary Science
October 1st, 2014
Use of mathematical models to study the transmission dynamics of infectious diseases is becoming increasingly common in veterinary sciences. However, modeling chronic infectious diseases such as bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is particularly challenging due to the substantial uncertainty associated with the epidemiology of the disease. Here, the methodological approaches used to model bTB and published in the peer-reviewed literature in the last decades were eviewed with a focus on the impact that the models` assumptions may have had on their results, such as the assumption of density vs. frequency-dependent transmission, the existence of non-infectious and non-detectable stages, and the effect of extrinsic sources of nfection (usually associated with wildlife reservoirs). Although all studies suggested a relatively low rate of within-herd transmission of bTB when test-andcull programs are in place, differences in the estimated length of the infection stages, sensitivity and specificity of the tests used and probable type of transmission (density or frequency-dependent) were observed. Additional improvements, such as exploring the usefulness of contact-networks instead of assuming omogeneous mixing of animals, may help to build better models that an help to design, evaluate and monitor control and eradication strategies against bTB
Alvarez J., Bezos J., de la Cruz ML., Casal C., Romero B., Dominguez L., de Juan L. and Perez AM.
 | Servicio de Micobacterias (MYC). Centro de Vigilancia Sanitaria Veterinaria (VISAVET). Universidad Complutense (UCM). |
| Departamento de Sanidad Animal. Facultad de Veterinaria. Universidad Complutense (UCM). |
 | College of Veterinary Medicine. University of Minnesota (UMM). |
