Mónica Alonso Fernández defended this Degree Final Project

September 14^th, 2023

Tuberculosis is one of the infectious diseases with the greatest impact worldwide, caused by bacteria of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, capable of affecting both humans and animals. The first actions to establish control of bovine tuberculosis in Spain started in the middle of the 20th century, which has led to a decrease in the incidence and prevalence in animals. Wildlife is an important reservoir for domestic cattle, which makes eradication difficult. Cervids are one of the main reservoirs of tuberculosis for cattle, especially red deer (Cervus elaphus) and fallow deer (Dama dama). The control of tuberculosis in wildlife is an essential pillar for the control of bovine tuberculosis. Currently, the control of tuberculosis in cervids is carried out by intradermotuberculinization (IDTB), but it has certain limitations, so it is necessary to evaluate different diagnostic test to improve the detection of tuberculosis in cervids. In this study, two serological test (P22 ELISA and INgezim Tuberculosis DR ELISA) and IDTB were evaluated in a total of 397 cervids. The deer population studied showed differences in positivity, being higher in red deer (5-37,78%) than in fallow deer (2,28-7,97%) independently of the diagnostic test used (IDTB, P22 ELISA or INgezim Tuberculosis DR ELISA). It has been observed that there is poor agreement between serological test and IDTB in cervids, especially between the INgezim Tuberculosis DR ELISA and IDTB. When risk factors were evaluated, it was found that age and animal species are risk factors for tuberculosis in cervids, with the disease being more probable in adults and in red deer. There is a higher probability of being positive to P22 ELISA than to INgezim Tuberculosis DR ELISA or IDTB. The combined use of IDTB and serology could help to identify a greater number of positive cervids. However, the absence of data from post mortem inspection of animals norisolation of the pathogen that could confirm the suspected cases, makes these results to be taken with caution