Directions and issues in bovine tuberculosis epidemiology and control in New Zealand

Current knowledge on the epidemiology of bovine tuberculosis in New Zealand is reviewed, with emphasis on recent findings. It would appear that the epidemiology of the disease is determined by the behaviour of both wildlife and domestic stock, and environmental influences on the development of the infectious state in wildlife. The central cause of persistent disease nationally remains the possum, although other species may play a subsidiary role locally. Current understanding provides much improved prospects for control, which will be based on implementing individual farm control strategies to complement current regional control, with additional later prospects of vaccination of wildlife and possibly reproductive control of possums.