title: Monitoring of the intra-dermal tuberculosis skin test performed by Belgian field practitioners.
abstract: The present study aimed to monitor skin test practices as performed by veterinarian field practitioners in Belgium. For this purpose, an anonymous postal questionnaire was elaborated and dispatched to veterinarians involved in bovine tuberculosis detection. The questionnaire included items focusing on the skin test performance. International experts in the field of bovine tuberculosis were asked to fill the questionnaire and a scoring scale was built as follows: 0 = 'ideal' answer, 1 = acceptable answer, whereas 2 = unacceptable answer. Furthermore, experts were asked to rank the questionnaire's items according to their possible impact on the risk of not detecting reactors. A global score was further calculated for each participant and a comparison of practices was carried out between the two regions of the country, i.e. Wallonia and Flanders. Significant differences were observed between both regions, a harmonization at the country level is thus essential. No veterinarian summed a null score, corresponding to the ideal skin test procedure, which suggests that skin-testing is far from being performed correctly. Field practitioners need to be sensitized to the importance of correctly performing the test. The authors recommend the questionnaire is suitable for application in other countries or regions.
authors.affiliation: Research Unit in Epidemiology and Risk Analysis Applied to Veterinary Sciences, Department of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, B42, Boulevard de Colonster 20, B-4000 Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: M-F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Humblet
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Walravens
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Salandre
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Boschiroli
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gilbert
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Berkvens
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fauville-Dufaux
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Godfroid
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dufey
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Raskin
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vanholme
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Saegerman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001530:Belgium; D002417:Cattle; D007428:Intradermal Tests / Q000379:methods* / Q000662:veterinary; D009163:Mycobacterium bovis / Q000502:physiology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014374:Tuberculin Test / Q000379:methods* / Q000662:veterinary; D014380:Tuberculosis, Bovine / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*