The History of In Vivo Tuberculin Testing in Bovines: Tuberculosis, a “One Health” Issue

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) is more than 3 million years old thriving in multiple species. Ancestral Mycobacterium tuberculosis gave rise to multiple strains including Mycobacterium bovis now distributed worldwide with zoonotic transmission happening in both directions between animals and humans. M. bovis in milk caused problems with a significant number of deaths in children under 5 years of age due largely to extrapulmonary TB. This risk was effectively mitigated with widespread milk pasteurization during the twentieth century, and fewer young children were lost to TB. Koch developed tuberculin in 1890 and recognizing the possibility of using tuberculin to detect infected animals the first tests were quickly developed. Bovine TB (bTB) control/eradication programmes followed in the late nineteenth century/early twentieth century. Many scientists collaborated and contributed to the development of tuberculin tests, to refining and optimizing the production and standardization of tuberculin and to determining test sensitivity and specificity using various methodologies and injection sites. The WHO, OIE, and EU have set legal standards for tuberculin production, potency assay performance, and intradermal tests for bovines. Now, those using tuberculin tests for bTB control/eradication programmes rarely, see TB as a disease. Notwithstanding the launch of the first-ever roadmap to combat zoonotic TB, many wonder if bTB is actually a problem? Is there a better way of dealing with bTB? Might alternative skin test sites make the test “better” and easier to perform? Are all tuberculins used for testing equally good? Why have alternative “better” tests not been developed? This review was prompted by these types of questions. This article attempts to succinctly summarize the data in the literature from the late nineteenth century to date to show why TB, and zoonotic TB specifically, was and still is important as a “One Health” concern, and that the necessity to reduce the burden of zoonotic TB, to save lives and secure livelihoods is far too important to await the possible future development of novel diagnostic assays for livestock before renewing efforts to eliminate it. Consequently, it is highly probable that the tuberculin skin test will remain the screening test of choice for farmed livestock for the considerable future.

Bovine Tuberculosis in Britain and Ireland – A Perfect Storm? the Confluence of Potential Ecological and Epidemiological Impediments to Controlling a Chronic Infectious Disease

“…In the late nineteenth century, tuberculins, derived from the culture filtrate of TB causing bacilli ( 10 ), were initially produced as potential therapeutic agents by the discoverer of the tubercle bacllius, Robert Koch ( 10 ). Their lack of efficacy for this particular task, was superseded by the discovery they could be used in the diagnosis of tuberculosis ( 8, 10 ).…”

A Retrospective Study on Bovine Tuberculosis in Cattle on Fiji: Study Findings and Stakeholder Responses

“…The determination to succeed in a resource limited setting with challenging field conditions is to be commended. The history of bTB control elsewhere shows that the use of tuberculin tests (SID PPD-B and/or SICTT) needs to be relevant to the context ( 29 ) and the purpose of their application communicated clearly to avoid confusion and farmer disengagement ( 28 ). Guidance from the international animal health community is essential to inform refinement to the Fiji BTEC Strategy on the journey to a bTB-free Fiji.…”

Tuberculosis outbreak caused byMycobacterium capraein a rabbit farm in Spain

“…Tuberculin IDT has been frequently used to study different aspects of TB development using the rabbit model with M . tuberculosis ‐derived Koch's Old Tuberculin (Converse et al, ; Manabe et al, ; Dannenberg, ; Good et al, ). However, these IDT protocols are hardly applicable to rabbits under field conditions.…”

“…Resistance to M . tuberculosis infection is even more evident (Good, Bakker, Duignan, & Collins, ). According to Coleman & Cooke, (), these lagomorphs can be considered dead‐end hosts that are not able of transmitting M .…”