title: Relative effectiveness of irish factories in the surveillance of slaughtered cattle for visible lesions of tuberculosis, 2005-2007.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In Ireland, every animal is examined at slaughter for its fitness for human consumption. The aim of this study was to determine the relative effectiveness of factories in submitting and subsequently in having suspect lesions confirmed as bovine tuberculosis (TB) lesions during the years 2005-2007. This work provides an update from previously published data for years 2003-2004. During 2005-2007 data were available on 4,401,813 cattle from attested herds (i.e. herds classified free of bovine TB), from which data for potential confounding factors were available for 3,344,057 slaughtered animals at one of the 37 export-licensed factories.
  
  
  RESULTS
  From these animals, 8,178 suspect lesions were submitted for laboratory confirmation. Lesions from 5,456 (66.7%) animals tested as positive, and 269 (3.2%) were inconclusive for bovine TB. Logistic regression was used to determine adjusted submission and confirmation risks for each factory while controlling for confounding factors. Factory rankings based on adjusted and crude risks were similar. The average crude submission risk for all the factories was 25 lesions per 10,000 animals slaughtered, ranging from 0 to 52. The crude confirmation risk varied between 30.3% and 91.3%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Substantial variation in the effectiveness of lesion submission and subsequent confirmation as bovine TB was found among the 37 factories. Compared to previous years (2003-2004), there was an increased bovine TB lesion submission and confirmation risk. Continued monitoring of the effectiveness of slaughter surveillance in Ireland is recommended; emphasis should be placed on efforts to improve bovine TB surveillance in factories with lower rankings.
authors.affiliation: Animal Population Health Institute, Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins 80523, USA. folea@colostate.edu.
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Olea-Popelka
authors.forename: Zach
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Freeman
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: Eamonn
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Costello
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: O'Keeffe
authors.forename: Klaas
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Frankena
authors.forename: Wayne
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: More