Editorial: Advancing the development and implementation of regional, national tuberculosis control programs in livestock in Africa, Asia, and Latin America
Investigation article published in Frontiers in veterinary science
April 18th, 2023
Tuberculosis in livestock caused by members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTb) complex is a notifiable zoonotic animal disease (1), which has been eradicated or held to very low prevalence levels in many high-income economies. Successful campaigns were all build
on a very strict test-and-slaughter strategy using the tuberculin PPD skin tests as diagnostic tool. However, tuberculosis in livestock remains endemic in most Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). This not only represents a threat to public health in those countries but also places a significant burden on their economies due to a negative impact on livestock productivity and the resources invested in healthcare, prevention, surveillance, and, when present, control and/or eradication programs. Moreover, tuberculosis in livestock affects a
wide variety of species as well as breeds, raised in a wide variety of farming systems, in a broad range of different climates, thus ruling out a “one size fits all” approach for disease control.
Since “traditional” test and cull programs are costly, very demanding on the livestock holder and may be ruled out as option for religious reasons, such programs must be tailored to ensure they are fit for purpose considering the respective socio-economic context in which
they have to be implemented in each country.
This Research Topic includes a variety of articles addressing some of the aspects of the design, description, evaluation and monitoring economic benefits/costs of surveillance and/or eradication programs targeting tuberculosis in livestock in LMICs
Bakker D., Buza JJ., Alvarez J. and Kapur V.
 | Departamento de Sanidad Animal. Facultad de Veterinaria. Universidad Complutense (UCM). |
 | School of Life Sciences and Bioengineering. Pennsylvania State University (PSU). |
| Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences. Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology. | |
| Servicio de Micobacterias (MYC). Centro de Vigilancia Sanitaria Veterinaria (VISAVET). Universidad Complutense (UCM). |
 | Department of Veterinary Population Medicine. College of Veterinary Medicine. University of Minnesota (UMM). |
