Immunological responses of Eurasian badgers (Meles meles) vaccinated with Mycobacterium bovis BCG (bacillus calmette guerin)

Bovine Tuberculosis ( Mycobacterium bovis ) in Wildlife in Spain

“…Vaccination of wildlife and feral reservoirs against tuberculosis has been proposed as a viable strategy for the control of the disease (6,12,21), but many issues need to be addressed before it becomes a realistic option. However, this option deserves the effort, and development of a vaccine against tuberculosis for use in deer (23), badger (45), and possum (11) populations has already been initiated.…”

Scientific review on Tuberculosis in wildlife in the EU

“…Mahmood et al (1987) demonstrated T-cell proliferative responses in badgers experimentally infected with M. bovis. The assay was subsequently modified to use bovine and avian tuberculins to show M. bovis specific T-cell responses in badgers naturally infected with M. bovis (Dalley et al, 1999) and in wild badgers vaccinated with BCG (Southey et al, 2001). Although considerably more sensitive than the Brock Test, the assay is timeconsuming, technically demanding, and requires the use of radioisotopes.…”

Tuberculosis and badgers: new approaches to diagnosis and control

“…Badgers mount a T cell‐mediated response to M. bovis infection which has been exploited in the development of a lymphocyte transformation assay (LTA) that uses bovine and avian tuberculin as the source of antigens. The LTA has been used to detect responses in infected and M. bovis BCG vaccinated badgers (Dalley et al 1999; Southey et al 2001). Data are still lacking, however, on the correlation of the assay results with post‐mortem analysis.…”

“…The immune responses of all 36 badgers were also monitored by measuring proliferation of T lymphocytes cultured in the presence of bovine tuberculin (PPD-bovine) and avian tuberculin (PPD-avian) as previously described (Southey et al 2001). The range of the proliferative responses from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) stimulated with PPD-bovine was restricted (Table 1).…”

“…Up to 90% of the badgers studied ingested baits, with some variability attributed to seasonal timing of bait deployment. In parallel with the bait uptake project, a study of the immunological responses of badgers to BCG vaccination was carried out on an island population of tuberculosis-free badgers to examine parameters that might be associated with the generation of a protective immune response (Southey et al 2001). The animals were immunized subcutaneously with M. bovis BCG and blood lymphocyte recognition of mycobacterial antigens was compared with that of a population of non-immunized control animals.…”