Control of bovine tuberculosis in a farmed red deer herd in England

This report describes how Mycobacterium bovis infection was controlled and eventually eradicated in a farmed red deer herd in the north of England, following sustained tuberculin skin testing supplemented with serological (antibody) tests over a period of approximately two years. By taking advantage of the anamnestic antibody response produced by the skin test to detect skin test-negative, antibody-positive infected individuals, a total of 35 additional animals were identified, including 2 with gross visible lesions typical of bovine tuberculosis (BTB). Without detection and removal, these animals would have posed a continued risk of BTB persistence within the herd and potentially contributed to the spread of infection from deer into wildlife and surrounding cattle farms in an area of low BTB incidence. This case supports the use of ancillary diagnostic serological tests to speed up the resolution of incidents of BTB caused by M bovis in captive deer herds.