Analysis of data obtained during a long-term study of bovine TB in Gloucestershire has confirmed that transmission of bovine TB occurs between badgers and cattle, leading scientists to conclude that TB controls should target both species.

The research work, led by scientists from University College Dublin and the University of Edinburgh, was reported in the journal eLife.

It was done at Woodchester Park, an 11km2 area in southwest England that has been used for a detailed studies into badgers stretching back to the 1970s. The site has a high density of badgers, within a cattle TB hotspot area. Since 1976, badgers have been routinely trapped and sampled for bovine TB.

Using samples taken from 116 different badgers from 2000 to 2011, scientists were able to compare the genomes from bovine TB infection against samples taken from 189 reactor cattle. The work also looked at where animals were located, when they were infected and whether they could have been in contact.

The work showed that transmission within each species happened more often than transmission between species. But the results also suggested that transmission occurs much more frequently (roughly 10 times as often) from badgers to cattle, than from cattle to badgers.

The results suggest that there has been a long history of within- and between species transmission in the Woodchester Park area, and an important role for badgers in disease persistence”, states the final research report.

“The authors are right to conclude that TB cannot, therefore, be eradicated just by managing badgers, or just by managing cattle,” noted Prof Rosie Woodroffe, senior research fellow, Zoological Society of London (ZSL).

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