The document discusses the epidemiology and control of bovine tuberculosis (TB) in India, highlighting its zoonotic nature and the historical context of the disease. It details the causes, classification, routes of infection, and prevalence of bovine TB in various animal species, emphasizing the importance of control measures such as hygiene, tuberculin testing, and isolation of infected animals. The challenges in controlling the disease are also addressed, including socio-economic factors and the presence of wildlife reservoirs.

1. BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS: EPIDEMIOLOGY
& CONTROL IN INDIA
DANISH ALI , M.V.Sc. Scholar
BHOJ R SINGH, Head
Division of Epidemiology
IVRI, Izatnagar

2. Bovine Tuberculosis
• A contagious zoonotic disease.
• Caused by Mycobacterium bovis, rarely M.
tuberculosis may also infect.

3. History of Tuberculosis
• One of the most ancient diseases of mankind and animals
• Aristotle was first to say that tuberculosis is an airborne
disease
• In 1865 Jean Antoine Villemin, put out the idea that TB was
genetically inherited.
 In1882 Robert Koch proved it wrong
by discovering a round shaped
bacterium that was the cause of the
disease.

4.  Mycobacterium bovis was subsequently identified in 1898.
 Griffith isolated M. bovis from the sputum of a butcher
suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis in 1909 .
 In 1911 , it was clearly shown that M . bovis was able to
cause all forms of tuberculosis in man and good number
of children got infection through milk .
 Until the 1920 , it was one of the major disease of the
domestic animals throughout the world .
 By 1937 , it was proved beyond doubt that pulmonary
infection due to M bovis in man occurs inside the sheds
by inhalation . [ Raw et al , 1937 ]

5. Classification of Mycobacteria
1. Tubercle bacilli
a) Human – M. tuberculosis
b) Bovine – M. bovis
c) Murine – M. microti
d) Avian – M. avium
Mycobacterium
avium complex (M.
avium and M. intracellulare).
e) Cold blooded – M. marinum
2. Lepra bacilli
a) Human – M. leprae
b) Rat – M. lepraemurium
3. Mycobacteria causing skin
ulcers
a) M. ulcerans
b) M. belnei
4. Atypical Mycobacteria (Runyon
Groups)
a) Photochromogens
b) Scotochromogens
c) Nonphotochromogens
d) Rapid growers
5. Johne’s bacillus
M. avium ssp. paratuberculosis (MAP)
IS900 and 251F positive.
Saprophytic mycobacteria
a) M. butyricum
b) M. phlei
c) M. stercoralis
d) M. smegmatis
e) Others

6. Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex
A genetically related group of Mycobacterium
species that can cause tuberculosis in humans or animals.
M. tuberculosis
M. africanum
M. bovis and BCG (Bacillus Calmette Guerin strain) strain
M. microti
M. carnettii
M. caprae
M. pinnipedii
M. suricattae
M. Munqi
And ill described the dassie and oryx bacilli.

7. •M. bovis is known to produce progressive disease in
cattle and buffaloes.
•The human and avian types of tubercle bacilli are
responsible only for retrogressive lesions in the
bovine species and are important for the nuisance
they create in the pursuit of control program by
bringing about tuberculin conversion of healthy
individuals.
•Before the introduction of the pasteurization process
of milk, bovine TB was a serious problem all over
India.
Disease in Bovines

8. PRE-DISPOSING FACTORS
Disease of Civilization / domestication:- herding
together facilitates spread. Large herds and
fattening herds of cattle are at increased risk.
Age: young animals are more susceptible than older ones.
Nutrition: Lower levels of Selenium and higher levels of
copper are associated with an increased risk of confirmed
bovine TB.
Management: purchase of cattle, the
occurrence of bovine TB in contiguous herds,
and/or the surrounding area.
Housing: Dark, ill ventilated, damp dwellings
are favourable for the spread.
Heredity: Zebu cattle are somewhat more
resistant than exotic or crossbred.

9. ROUTES OF INFECTION
• Respiratory route:- is the most common (About 90%).
• Alimentary route
• Congenital :- infection is rare
• Genital transmission is known to occur
• Entry of infection through teat canal
• Infection through the skin is also possible, though
not common.

10. • Probability of TB transmission depends on:
– Infectiousness of animals with TB disease/ Stage
of disease.
– Environment in which exposure occurred
– Length of exposure
– Virulence of the tubercle bacilli
• Transmission can be halted:
– Isolate and segregate animals sick animals.
– Provide effective treatment to infectious animal as
soon as possible or cull it.
– Quarantine any new animal to be introduced.
TB Transmission

11. Prevalence of Tuberculosis in Animals
• ON THE BASIS OF TUBERCULIN TESTING:
Overall, 7.4% of livestock
Bovines: 8%,
Camels 11%,
Sheep and goats 2%
Pigs 15%,
Wildlife 5%
(ILRI,2012)

12. Animal tuberculosis in Indian states
PLACE YEAR PERCENTAGE NUMBERS
TESTED
SPECIES
BANGALORE 1973 20 % DAIRY HERD BOVINES
HARYANA 1970 - 1979 1.9 % 11990 CATTLE
HARYANA 1970 - 1979 3.8 % 1099 BUFFALOES
MEGHALAYA 1982 8.94 % 302 CATTLE
UTTAR
PRADESH
1985 13.25 % 1268 BOVINE
CARCASSES
PUNJAB 1994 0.33 – 11.7 % 1390 BOVINES
ORISSA 1997 1.6 – 11.5 % - POSITIVE
REACTORS
- - 3.5 – 22.8 % ABBATOIR
SURVEY
-

13. PLACE YEAR PERCENTAGE CONCERNED
POPULATION
SPECIES REFERENCES
BOMBAY 1914 7.6 % DAIRY
FARM
674
CATTLE Joshi et al
1914
CALCUTTA 1970 4.64 % TUBERCULOU
S COWS [
64 ]
CATTLE Guha &
Sarkar .
- 1969 1.6 - 16 % - CATTLE Lall 1969
- 1969 3 - 25 % - BUFFALOES Lall 1969
NORTHERN
INDIA
2006 15.76 % DAIRY
HERDS
BOVINE Mukherjee
WESTERN
INDIA
2006 0.65 - 1.85 % DAIRY
HERDS
BOVINE Mukherjee
HIMACHAL
PRADESH
2010 14.31 % OVERALL
PREVALENCE
BOVINE THAKUR et
al
HIMACHAL
PRADESH
2010 16. 67 % FARM
PREVALENCE
BOVINE THAKUR et
al

14. PLACES INCIDENCE OF CASES REFERENCES
PUNJAB 0.2 % - 16.3 % Datta , Iyer et al
BIHAR 1.06 % Soparkar & Dhillon et al
MADRAS 1.8 % Lall et al
BOMBAY 12 % Diwedi & Singh et al
TAMIL NADU 34.58 % Dhinakaran et al 1991
KARNATAKA 30 - 35 % Dhinakaran et al 1991
OGANISED DAIRY FARMS 1.93 % [cattle ]
6.39 % [buffaloes]
Shah 2002 .

15. Animal species affected
• Maintenance hosts
– Cattle
– Possums, ferrets
– Badgers
– Bison, elk
– Kudu, African buffalo
– White-tailed deer
• Spillover hosts
– Sheep, goats, horses, pigs, dogs, others
• Spillback hosts

16. Cattle: Most among all
• Bovine strain - most pathogenic over the other three strains.
• Incidence - more in pure bred and cross bred cattle.
• Zebu cattle - Comparatively resistant to bovine tuberculosis.
(Selman, 1981).
• Tuberculosis in buffaloes is not uncommon in India
(Lall et al., 1969); Mehrotra and Pathak, 1974; Kulshrestha et al., 1980).

17. Disease in Cattle
• Clinical signs
– Develop over months
– May become dormant, reactivate
• Early stage may be asymptomatic
• Later stage ;
– Progressive emaciation
– Fever, weakness, inappetence
– Moist cough
– Enlarged, draining lymph nodes

18. ADVANCED STAGE ;
• Fluctuating temperature
• Anorexia and loss of body condition
• Enlarged lymph nodes
• Persistent cough progressing to dyspnoea
• Increases respiratory rate if pulmonary tuberculosis
• Induration of the udder

19. DIAGNOSIS ;
• Microscopic examination
– Acid Fast Staining .
 Delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) assays includes ;
• Single intradermal tuberculin test
• Stormont test
• Short thermal test
• Subcutaneous tuberculin test and
• Opthalmic test
 New techniques
• PCR assays such as multiplex PCR
• Gamma-interferon (IFN-γ) assay
• A combination of intradermal skin test (ST) and ELISA
• Lymphocyte proliferation assay .
• Serum based PCR.

20. Differential Diagnosis
• Bovine pleuropneumonia
• Pasteurella
• Corynebacterium pyogenes
• Aspiration pneumonia
• Traumatic pericarditis
• Caseous lymphadenitis
• Melioidosis
• Chronic aberrant liver flukes

21. Post Mortem Lesions
• Granulomas (tubercles): Found in lymph nodes , and
other organs
– Appearance
• Yellow
• Caseous
• Calcified
• May resemble abscesses

22. Resistance to disinfectants
• Bacilli survive in Droplets for 8 – 10 days .
• Survive in
 5% phenol,
 15% Sulphuric acid
 3% Nitric acid,5% oxalic acid,
 4% Sodium hydroxide.

23. Contd …………….
• Mycobacterium are killed at 600c in 15 – 20 minutes
• In sputum they survive for 10 – 30 minutes
• Relatively resistant to several chemicals including
Phenol 5 %
• Sensitive to Glutaraldehyde and Formaldehyde
• Ethanol is suitable application to superficial surfaces
and skin gloves

24. • Caused by M. tuberculosis
organisms resistant to at
least one TB treatment drug
– Isoniazid (INH)
– Rifampin (RIF)
– Pyrazinamide (PZA)
– Ethambutol (EMB)
• Resistant means drugs can
no longer kill the bacteria
Drug-Resistant TB

25. Primary Resistance Caused by person-to-person
transmission of drug-resistant organisms
Secondary Resistance Develops during TB treatment:
• Patient was not
given appropriate
treatment regimen
OR
• Patient did not
follow treatment regimen as
prescribed
Drug-Resistant TB

26. Mono-resistant Resistant to any one TB treatment drug
Poly-resistant Resistant to at least any 2 TB drugs (but not
both isoniazid and rifampin)
Multidrug
resistant
(MDR TB)
Resistant to at least isoniazid and rifampin,
the 2 best first-line TB treatment drugs
Extensively drug
resistant
(XDR TB)
Resistant to isoniazid and rifampin, PLUS
resistant to any fluoroquinolone AND at least
1 of the 3 injectable second-line drugs (e.g.,
amikacin, kanamycin, or capreomycin)
Drug-Resistant TB

27. BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS
PROPHYLAXIS / CONTROL
Why control???
• Risk of infection to human
• Loss in productivity
• Animal market restrictions set by countries with advanced
eradication programs
• Threat to endangered wild animal species
Failure of control programs in developing countries???
• Cannot shoulder the cost of eradication program and
compensate for culled animals.
• Limited access to education
• Poor information networks
• Lack of disease surveillance

28. Prevention & Control
1. Good hygiene and management
• Sanitation at farms and Good Ventilation
• Tail-to-tail arrangement of keeping animals
• Proper & hygienic disposal of waste
• Isolation of sick and weak animals showing marked ;
 Weight loss, emaciation, low grade fever, coughing and
diarrhoea
2. Tuberculin Testing
• Segregation of all tuberculin positive animals
• Test and slaughter policy in tuberculin positive animals
other than cows

29. CONTD……….
 Test-and-slaughter ;
• If the incidence is low and the resources ample.
 Test-and-segregation ;
• In the case of higher incidence of infection, coupled with
borderline level of economic security .
 Slaughter / Abbatoir surveillance
 Chemotherapy and vaccination ;
• Consequently treatment and vaccination of infected animals is
not recommended .

30. Prevention and Control
 Wildlife reservoir hosts
– Complicate eradication efforts
– Culling
– Prohibit supplemental feeding
– Barriers to feed access
– Prevent contact with livestock
Center for Food Security and Public
Health, Iowa State University, 2012

31. Problems of Tuberculosis control
in India
 No visible lesions or signs in reactors.
 Breakdowns / Anergic carriers.
 No Trace-back mechanism.
 Large un-organized contiguous mixing herds.
 Wildlife reservoirs and grazing animals in wild.
Poverty
Illiteracy
Social: Cow slaughter ban, rearing animals till
their natural death, common housing for
human and animals.
Human Tuberculosis

32. CONCLUSION……….
• Mandatory Test-and-slaughter
strategy or test-and-
segregation.
• Periodic retesting of infected
herd
• Quarantine
• Trace back reactor and those
that came in contact with
them
• Strong Disinfection with iodine
solutions, glutarldehyde and
formadehyde..
• Rodent control
• Barrier the area to prevent
wildlife interaction with
domestic animals.
• Pasteurization of milk
• Awareness about the
deleterious effects of
unpasteurized milk
consumption.
• Proper cooking of meat.
• Restricted animal movement.
• Involvement of ministry of
health in coalition with
agriculture industry for
combined efforts to reduce
bovine TB.
EFFORTS TO BE IMPLEMENTED…………………..