Comparative performance of tuberculin and defined-antigen cocktails for detecting bovine tuberculosis in BCG-vaccinated cattle in natural settings.
Abebe Fromsa, Andrew J K Conlan, Sreenidhi Srinivasan, Balako Gumi, Wegene Bedada, Miserach Zeleke, Dawit Worku, Matios Lakew, Biniam Tadesse, Berecha Bayissa, Asegedech Sirak, Musse Girma Abdela, Getnet Abie Mekonnen, Tesfaye Chibssa, Maroudam Veerasami, Gareth J Jones, H Martin Vordermeier, Nick Juleff, James L N Wood, Gobena Ameni, Vivek Kapur
Scientific reports 2025 Feb 07Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is a threat to cattle health and public safety. The current control programs are hampered by wildlife reservoirs and socioeconomic barriers. Vaccinating cattle with Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) effectively reduces transmission, offering a potential solution for controlling bTB. A key requirement for vaccination strategies using BCG is the validation of defined antigens to differentiate infections among vaccinated animals (DIVA). We compared tuberculin with DIVA peptide cocktails (ESAT-6, CFP-10, and Rv3615c) in 67 unvaccinated and 67 BCG-vaccinated cattle exposed to M. bovis in a natural setting. The cattle were tested every 4 months with a skin test and every 2 months with interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) release assays (IGRA) over a year of exposure. Before exposure, the DIVA skin, DIVA IGRA, and tuberculin tests showed 100% specificity in unvaccinated control calves. After exposure, the DIVA skin, DIVA IGRA, and comparative cervical tuberculin (CCT) tests had comparable sensitivities of 46% (95% CI 36, 56), 45% (95% CI 35, 55), and 47 (95% CI 37, 57), respectively, when assessed against animals positive by M. bovis culture PCR. The results suggest that test-and-slaughter control strategies using tests with low sensitivity are not expected to be effective in controlling bTB in high-prevalence herds, and highlight an urgent need to improve the sensitivity of diagnostic tests for bTB in these settings. © 2025. Crown.
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Abebe Fromsa, Andrew J K Conlan, Sreenidhi Srinivasan, Balako Gumi, Wegene Bedada, Miserach Zeleke, Dawit Worku, Matios Lakew, Biniam Tadesse, Berecha Bayissa, Asegedech Sirak, Musse Girma Abdela, Getnet Abie Mekonnen, Tesfaye Chibssa, Maroudam Veerasami, Gareth J Jones, H Martin Vordermeier, Nick Juleff, James L N Wood, Gobena Ameni, Vivek Kapur. Comparative performance of tuberculin and defined-antigen cocktails for detecting bovine tuberculosis in BCG-vaccinated cattle in natural settings. Scientific reports. 2025 Feb 07;15(1):4564
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PMID: 39915566
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