Prevalence, distribution, and risk factors of bovine tuberculosis in dairy cattle in central China

Xiaojie Zhu; Jie Wang; Yuxi Zhao; Zhen Zhang; Lei Yan; Yongkang Xue; Yingyu Chen; Ian D Robertson; Aizhen Guo; Joshua Aleri

doi:10.1016/j.prevetmed.2023.105887

Prevalence, distribution, and risk factors of bovine tuberculosis in dairy cattle in central China

Prev Vet Med. 2023 Apr:213:105887. doi: 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2023.105887. Epub 2023 Mar 2.

Authors

Xiaojie Zhu¹, Jie Wang¹, Yuxi Zhao², Zhen Zhang³, Lei Yan³, Yongkang Xue³, Yingyu Chen⁴, Ian D Robertson⁵, Aizhen Guo⁶, Joshua Aleri⁷

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei 430070, China; School of Veterinary Medicine, College of Science, Health, Engineering and Education, Murdoch University, Western Australia 6150, Australia.
² State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei 430070, China.
³ Henan Dairy Herd Improvement Center, Zhengzhou, Henan 450045, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei 430070, China; National Professional Laboratory For Animal Tuberculosis (Wuhan) of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei 430070, China; Hubei Hongshan Laboratory, Hubei International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Base of Veterinary Epidemiology, The Cooperative Innovation Center for Sustainable Pig Production, Wuhan, Hubei 430070, China.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei 430070, China; School of Veterinary Medicine, College of Science, Health, Engineering and Education, Murdoch University, Western Australia 6150, Australia; Hubei Hongshan Laboratory, Hubei International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Base of Veterinary Epidemiology, The Cooperative Innovation Center for Sustainable Pig Production, Wuhan, Hubei 430070, China.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei 430070, China; National Professional Laboratory For Animal Tuberculosis (Wuhan) of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei 430070, China; Hubei Hongshan Laboratory, Hubei International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Base of Veterinary Epidemiology, The Cooperative Innovation Center for Sustainable Pig Production, Wuhan, Hubei 430070, China. Electronic address: aizhen@mail.hzau.edu.cn.
⁷ School of Veterinary Medicine, College of Science, Health, Engineering and Education, Murdoch University, Western Australia 6150, Australia; Centre for Animal Production and Health, Future Foods Institute, Murdoch University, Western Australia 6150, Australia. Electronic address: J.Aleri@murdoch.edu.au.

PMID: 36893605
DOI: 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2023.105887

Abstract

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is one of the priority epidemic diseases in dairy cattle in China. Continuous surveillance and evaluation of the control programs will help on improving the efficiency of bTB control policy. We designed this study to investigate both animal and herd level prevalence of bTB, as well as to determine the associated factors in dairy farms in Henan and Hubei provinces. A cross-sectional study was conducted from May 2019 to September 2020 in central China (Henan and Hubei provinces). We sampled 40 herds in Henan and six herds in Hubei via stratified systematic sampling and administrated a questionnaire consisting of 35 factors. A total of 4900 whole blood samples were collected from 46 farms, including 545 calves < six months old and 4355 cows ≥ six months old. This study demonstrated a high animal-(18.65%, 95% CI: 17.6-19.8) and herd-level (93.48%, 95%CI: 82.1-98.6) prevalence of bTB in dairy farms in central China. The Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) and negative binomial regression models showed that herd positivity was associated with the practice of introducing new animals (RR = 1.7, 95%CI: 1.0-3.0, p = 0.042), and changing the disinfectant water in the wheel bath at the farm entrance every three days or less (RR = 0.4, 95%CI: 0.2-0.8, p = 0.005) which reduced the odds of herd positivity. In addition, the result illustrated that testing cows with a higher age group (≥ 60 months old) (OR=1.57, 95%CI: 1.14-2.17, p = 0.006) and within the early stage of lactation (DIM=60-120 days, OR=1.85, 95%CI: 1.19-2.88, p = 0.006) and the later stage of lactation (DIM≥301 days, OR=2.14, 95%CI: 1.30-3.52, p = 0.003) could maximize the odds of detecting seropositive animals. Our results have plenty of benefit to improve bTB surveillance strategies in China and elsewhere in the world. The LASSO and the negative binomial regression models were recommended when dealing with high herd-level prevalence and high dimensional data in questionnaire-based risk studies.

Keywords: Bovine tuberculosis; Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator model; Negative binomial regression; Prevalence; Risk factors.

MeSH terms

Animals
Cattle
Cattle Diseases*
Cross-Sectional Studies
Dairying
Female
Prevalence
Risk Factors
Tuberculosis, Bovine* / epidemiology