LIMITED ANTIBODY EVIDENCE OF EXPOSURE TO MYCOBACTERIUM BOVIS IN FERAL SWINE (SUS SCROFA) IN THE USA.
Bovine tuberculosis is a chronic disease of cattle ( Bos taurus ) caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium bovis . Efforts have been made in the US to eradicate the disease in cattle, but spillover into wildlife and subsequent spillback have impeded progress in some states. In particular, infection in white-tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ) has been followed by infection in cattle in some Midwestern states. Infection has also been documented in feral swine ( Sus scrofa ) on the Hawaiian island of Molokai and in various European countries, but no large-scale survey of antibody exposure to the bacteria has been conducted in feral swine in the US. We tested 488 sera from feral swine collected near previously documented outbreaks of bovine tuberculosis in cattle and captive cervids, in addition to 2,237 feral swine sera collected across the US from 1 October 2013 to 30 September 2014. While all but one of the samples were antibody negative, the results are important for establishing baseline negative data since feral swine are capable reservoirs and could be implicated in future outbreaks of the disease.
1   US Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife Services, 4101 LaPorte Avenue, Fort Collins, Colorado 80521, USA.
Kerri
K
Pedersen
2   US Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Veterinary Services, 2150 Centre Avenue, Building B, Fort Collins, Colorado 80526, USA.
Ryan S
RS
Miller
3   Colorado State University, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, 300 W Drake Road, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523, USA.
Theodore D
TD
Anderson
3   Colorado State University, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, 300 W Drake Road, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523, USA.
Kristy L
KL
Pabilonia
4   US Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife Services, Room 200 Thompson Hall, 775 Stone Boulevard, Mississippi State, Mississippi 39762, USA.
Jonathan R
JR
Lewis
5   US Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife Services, 3419A Arden Way, Sacramento, California 95825, USA.
Rebecca L
RL
Mihalco
6   SaBio, Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos, IREC, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha (CSIC-UCLM-JCCM), Ronda de Toledo, 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain.
Christian
C
Gortázar
7   US Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife Services, National Wildlife Research Center, 4101 LaPorte Avenue, Fort Collins, Colorado 80521, USA.
Thomas
T
Gidlewski
D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D003670:Deer; D005060:Europe; D006254:Hawaii; D009163:Mycobacterium bovis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D034421:Sus scrofa / Q000382:microbiology*; D013552:Swine; D013553:Swine Diseases; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000662:veterinary*; D014380:Tuberculosis, Bovine
Bovine tuberculosis; Mycobacterium bovis; Sus scrofa; feral swine; tuberculosis; wild pig