title: Efficacy of antibiotic treatment and test-based culling strategies for eradicating brucellosis in commercial swine herds.
abstract: Swine brucellosis caused by Brucella suis biovar 2 is an emerging disease in continental Europe. Without effective vaccines being available, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recommends the full depopulation of infected herds as the only strategy to eradicate B. suis outbreaks. Using data collected from 8 herds suffering natural swine brucellosis outbreaks, we assessed the efficacy of four control strategies: (i) oxytetracycline treatment only, as a default scenario, (ii) oxytetracycline treatment combined with skin testing and removal of positive animals, (iii) oxytetracycline treatment combined with serological testing (Rose Bengal test-RBT-and indirect ELISA -iELISA-) and removal of seropositive animals and (iv) oxytetracycline treatment combined with both serological (RBT/iELISA) and skin testing and removal of positive animals. A Susceptible-Infectious-Removal model was used to estimate the reproduction ratio (R) for each strategy. According to this model, the oxytetracycline treatment alone was not effective enough to eradicate the infection. However, this antibiotic treatment combined with diagnostic testing at 4-monthly intervals plus immediate removal of positive animals showed to be effective to eradicate brucellosis independent of the diagnostic test strategy used in an acceptable time interval (1-2 years), depending on the initial number of infected animals.
authors.affiliation: Animal Health Department, IA2 CITA-Universidad de Zaragoza, Av. Montañana 930, 50059 Zaragoza, Spain; Department of Farm Animal Health, Utrecht University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Yalelaan 7, 3584 CL Utrecht, The Netherlands. Electronic address: L.DiestePerez@uu.nl.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dieste-Pérez
authors.affiliation: Quantitative Veterinary Epidemiology Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 338, 6700 AH Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Frankena
authors.affiliation: Animal Health Department, IA2 CITA-Universidad de Zaragoza, Av. Montañana 930, 50059 Zaragoza, Spain.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Blasco
authors.affiliation: Animal Health Department, IA2 CITA-Universidad de Zaragoza, Av. Montañana 930, 50059 Zaragoza, Spain.
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Muñoz
authors.affiliation: Quantitative Veterinary Epidemiology Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 338, 6700 AH Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: M C M
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: de Jong
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D065136:Animal Culling; D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002006:Brucellosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000662:veterinary*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy / Q000662:veterinary; D021821:Communicable Diseases, Emerging / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000662:veterinary; D060740:Disease Eradication / Q000379:methods; D005060:Europe; D010118:Oxytetracycline / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D013552:Swine; D013553:Swine Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000517:prevention & control*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D010118:Oxytetracycline
keywords: Antibiotherapy; Brucella suis; Epidemiology; Eradication; Pigs; Reproduction ratio