title: Protection of Eurasian badgers (Meles meles) from tuberculosis after intra-muscular vaccination with different doses of BCG.
abstract: Mycobacterium bovis infection is widespread in Eurasian badger (Meles meles) populations in Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland where they act as a wildlife reservoir of infection for cattle. Removal of infected badgers can significantly reduce the incidence of bovine tuberculosis (TB) in local cattle herds. However, control measures based on culling of native wildlife are contentious and may even be detrimental to disease control. Vaccinating badgers with bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) has been shown to be efficacious against experimentally induced TB of badgers when administered subcutaneously and orally. Vaccination may be an alternative or complementary strategy to other disease control measures. As the subcutaneous route is impractical for vaccinating wild badgers and an oral vaccine bait formulation is currently unavailable, we evaluated the intramuscular (IM) route of BCG administration. It has been demonstrated that the IM route is safe in badgers. IM administration has the practical advantage of being relatively easy to perform on trapped wild badgers without recourse to chemical immobilisation. We report the evaluation of the efficacy of IM administration of BCG Danish strain 1331 at two different doses: the dose prescribed for adult humans (2-8×10(5)colony forming units) and a 10-fold higher dose. Vaccination generated a dose-dependent cell-mediated immune response characterised by the production of interferon-γ (IFNγ) and protection against endobronchial challenge with virulent M. bovis. Protection, expressed in terms of a significant reduction in the severity of disease, the number of tissues containing acid-fast bacilli, and reduced bacterial excretion was statistically significant with the higher dose only.
authors: TB Research Group, Department of Bacteriology, Veterinary Laboratories Agency Weybridge, Woodham Lane, New Haw, Addlestone, Surrey KT15 3NB, UK.
authors: Sandrine
authors: S
authors: Lesellier
authors: Si
authors: S
authors: Palmer
authors: Sonya
authors: S
authors: Gowtage-Sequiera
authors: Roland
authors: R
authors: Ashford
authors: Deanna
authors: D
authors: Dalley
authors: Dipesh
authors: D
authors: Davé
authors: Ute
authors: U
authors: Weyer
authors: F Javier
authors: FJ
authors: Salguero
authors: Alejandro
authors: A
authors: Nunez
authors: Timothy
authors: T
authors: Crawshaw
authors: Leigh A L
authors: LA
authors: Corner
authors: R Glyn
authors: RG
authors: Hewinson
authors: Mark A
authors: MA
authors: Chambers
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001500:BCG Vaccine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004197:Disease Reservoirs / Q000382:microbiology*; D005260:Female; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D007273:Injections, Intramuscular / Q000662:veterinary; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D045969:Mustelidae / Q000382:microbiology*; D009163:Mycobacterium bovis / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000662:veterinary*; D014611:Vaccination / Q000662:veterinary
chemical_list: D001500:BCG Vaccine; D007371:Interferon-gamma