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Updated: Jul 8, 2026

Cities As Interfaces of Zoonotic Hazard Emergence: Development of the New York City Tick and Wildlife Urban Surveillance System
Published on: March 10, 2026
Perturbing implications of wildlife ecology for disease control
Robbie A McDonald1, Richard J Delahay, Stephen P Carter
1Central Science Laboratory, Sand Hutton, York, UK, YO41 1LZ. r.mcdonald@csl.gov.uk
Abstract:
Britain's Randomised Badger Culling Trial provides robust evidence of the role badgers have in transmission of Mycobacterium bovis to cattle. Culling badgers perturbed their social structure, and brought positive and negative effects for bovine tuberculosis incidence in cattle, leading to the conclusion that culling could not make a meaningful contribution to disease control. The RBCT highlights the complexities of disease transmission in social animals and the importance of host ecology for controlling wildlife diseases.
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