title: Prevalence of Mycobacterium bovis infection in feral pigs in the Northern Territory.
abstract: The prevalence of Mycobacterium bovis infection in populations of feral pigs from five areas in the Northern Territory was examined. In total 790 pigs were necropsied and positive cultures of M bovis were obtained from two pigs (0.25%) and a mycobacterial granuloma was found in one pig. The observed prevalence of M bovis infection in feral pigs is significantly less (chi 2 = 139.8, df = 1, P < 0.001) than the results of a comparable survey conducted during the early 1970s before the implementation of the Brucellosis and Tuberculosis Eradication Campaign. The prevalence of all types of macroscopic lesions resembling tuberculosis was significantly (chi 2 = 338.7, df = 1, P < 0.001) less than the earlier survey. The results are further support for the hypothesis that in the Northern Territory feral pigs are an end-host for M bovis infection, and that the previous high prevalence of M bovis recorded in feral pigs in the 1970s was caused by the close association between these animals and large populations of M bovis-infected buffalo and cattle.
authors.affiliation: Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, Darwin, Northern Territory.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: McInerney
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Small
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Caley
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology; D000818:Animals; D002020:Buffaloes; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D009163:Mycobacterium bovis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D015876:Northern Territory / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D013552:Swine; D013553:Swine Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D014380:Tuberculosis, Bovine / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology