Summary Existing strategies for long‐term bovine tuberculosis (bTB) control/eradication campaigns are being reconsidered in many countries because of the development of new testing technologies, increased global trade, continued struggle with wildlife reservoirs of bTB, redistribution of international trading partners/agreements, and emerging financial and animal welfare constraints on herd depopulation. Changes under consideration or newly implemented include additional control measures to limit risks with imported animals, enhanced programs to mitigate wildlife reservoir risks, re‐evaluation of options to manage bTB‐affected herds/regions, modernization of regulatory framework(s) to re‐focus control efforts, and consideration of emerging testing technologies (i.e. improved or new tests) for use in bTB control/eradication programs. Traditional slaughter surveillance and test/removal strategies will likely be augmented by incorporation of new technologies and more targeted control efforts. The present review provides an overview of current and emerging bTB testing strategies/tools and a vision for incorporation of emerging technologies into the current control/eradication programs.

Tuberculosis (TB) in elephants is a reemerging zoonotic disease caused primarily by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Current methods for screening and diagnosis rely on trunk wash culture, which has serious limitations due to low test sensitivity, slow turnaround time, and variable sample quality. Innovative and more efficient diagnostic tools are urgently needed. We describe three novel serologic techniques, the ElephantTB Stat-Pak kit, multiantigen print immunoassay, and dual-path platform VetTB test, for rapid antibody detection in elephants. The study was performed with serum samples from 236 captive African and Asian elephants from 53 different locations in the United States and Europe. The elephants were divided into three groups based on disease status and history of exposure: (i) 26 animals with cultureconfirmed TB due to M. tuberculosis or Mycobacterium bovis, (ii) 63 exposed elephants from known-infected herds that had never produced a culture-positive result from trunk wash samples, and (iii) 147 elephants without clinical symptoms suggestive of TB, with consistently negative trunk wash culture results, and with no history of potential exposure to TB in the past 5 years. Elephants with culture-confirmed TB and a proportion of exposed but trunk wash culture-negative elephants produced robust antibody responses to multiple antigens of M. tuberculosis, with seroconversions detectable years before TB-positive cultures were obtained from trunk wash specimens. ESAT-6 and CFP10 proteins were immunodominant antigens recognized by elephant antibodies during disease. The serologic assays demonstrated 100% sensitivity and 95 to 100% specificity. Rapid and accurate antibody tests to identify infected elephants will likely allow earlier and more efficient treatment, thus limiting transmission of infection to other susceptible animals and to humans.

We have identified a globally important clonal complex of M. bovis by deletion analysis of over one thousand strains from over 30 countries. We initially show that over 99% of the strains of Mycobacterium bovis, the cause of bovine tuberculosis, isolated from cattle in the Republic of Ireland and the UK are closely related and are members of a single clonal complex marked by the deletion of chromosomal region RDEu,1 and we named this clonal complex European 1 (Eu1). Eu1 strains were present at less than

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