Ethiopia: Vaccination reduces severity and spread of TB in cattle

A new study led by the University of Cambridge and Penn State University has shown that vaccination not only reduces the severity of bovine tuberculosis (TB) in infected cattle but also reduces transmission. This was the first study to show that Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccinated cattle infected with TB are “substantially less infectious to other cattle”. According to researchers the indirect effect of the vaccine “beyond its direct protective effect” had not been measured before. The study, which was carried out in Ethiopia, examined the BCG vaccine’s ability to directly protect cattle that receive it, as well as to indirectly protect both vaccinated and unvaccinated cattle by reducing TB transmission Andrew Conlan, associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Cambridge’s Department of Veterinary Medicine and a corresponding author of the study, said researchers found that BCG vaccination reduces TB transmission in cattle by almost 90%. “Vaccinated cows also ...