title: Risk factors for disclosure of additional tuberculous cattle in attested-clear herds that had one animal with a confirmed lesion of tuberculosis at slaughter during 2003 in Ireland.
abstract: All the Irish cattle herds considered "clear" of bovine tuberculosis (BTB) having a single animal with a tuberculous lesion at slaughter during 2003 were identified. We performed a descriptive and logistic regression analysis to investigate whether selected risk factors had an association with the result of the herd test immediately after the tuberculous lesion was found ("Factory Lesion Test", FLT). At the FLT, only 19.7% (n=338) of these 1713 herds had 1 or more standard reactors. The lesioned animal was home-bred in 46% of the "source" herds; these herds had an increased risk (23.4%) of having at least 1 standard reactor animal relative to herds with a purchased-lesioned animal (16.6%) (RR=1.41). Our logistic models identified a number of important risk factors; two that appeared most important in predicting the FLT outcome were the time spent (residency) by the lesioned animal in the "source" herd, and the presence, or not, of the lesioned animal in a previous BTB episode in either the "source" herd, or the seller's herd in the case the lesioned animal was purchased. Our models fit the data well based on the Hosmer-Lemeshow test, however their sensitivity and specificity were very low (57% and 61% respectively). Surveillance of the cattle population for BTB using lesions found at slaughter is an essential component of an overall control program. Nonetheless, due to the poor predictability of the variables we measured, complete herd investigations are needed to help explain the FLT outcome of a herd.
authors.affiliation: Department of Population Medicine, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Clinical Research Building, Guelph, Ont., Canada N1G 2W1. folea@colostate.edu
authors.forename: F J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Olea-Popelka
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Costello
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: McGrath
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: O'Keeffe
authors.forename: D F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Kelton
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Berke
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: More
authors.forename: S W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Martin
mesh_terms: D000003:Abattoirs; D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle / Q000382:microbiology; D003140:Communicable Disease Control / Q000379:methods*; D016358:Contact Tracing / Q000662:veterinary; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D007494:Ireland / Q000453:epidemiology; D016015:Logistic Models; D009163:Mycobacterium bovis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012307:Risk Factors; D018571:Sentinel Surveillance / Q000662:veterinary*; D014380:Tuberculosis, Bovine / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*