Abstract

The control of bovine Tuberculosis (bTB) in the UK, and internationally, depends on the identification and slaughter of infected animals that react to the tuberculin skin test. As a consequence of the early successes of tuberculin testing in eliminating bTB from cattle populations, no national control program has attempted to use vaccination to control bTB. Indeed cattle vaccination is currently illegal within the UK and EU due to the sensitising effect the only viable vaccine candidate (BCG) has on vaccinates increasing the likelihood they react to the skin test. New diagnostic tests that can differentiate infected from vaccinated animals open up the possibility to change legislation to allow the use of vaccination in cattle. In the UK the potential for the deployment vaccination is likely to be severely limited by the policy decision that it can only be used as a supplement to existing test-and-slaughter control. However, in developing countries where test-and-slaughter is economically viable, or in the case of India ethically unacceptable, vaccination may have an important role to play in reducing the zoonotic risk of transmission in emerging dairy markets.