Monitoring Mycobacterium bovis in Eurasian badgers (Meles meles) killed by vehicles in Northern Ireland between 1998 and 2011

The objective of Table 2 was to examine whether certain regions were more likely to have positive samples than other sites. [...]the results used for Table 2 were restricted to those badgers sampled more than five times. Region Sites sampled if possible Proportion of M bovis-positive (number of positive samples/numberof samples collected) Odds ratio (95%confidence interval) Abdomen Kidney, liver, mesenteric lymph node, spleen 0.05 (102/2022) 1 Carcase Prescapular and popliteal pool 0.09 (76/831) 1.89 (1.37 to 2.61) Head Masseter muscle, retropharyngeal lymph node, submandibular lymph node, tonsil 0.17 (1/6) 3.76 (0.08 to 34.02) Thorax Lung, mediastinal lymph node 0.62 (8/13) 29.94 (8.47 to 118.71) Other Abscess swab, faeces, other lymph nodes, muscle, other lesions, urine 0.05 (114/2341) 0.96 (0.73 to 1.28) Samples were taken if the tissue was not overly damaged. Data on cattle were extracted from the Animal and Public Health Information System. 11 For each 5-km zone, the number of M bovis-positive unique herds (defined as having one or more tuberculosis reactors (defined as positive to the single intradermal comparative cervical tuberculin test) for 12 months preceding and 12 months following the date the badger was collected) was calculated, as well as the number of unique herds tested during the time period. The results of the survey have guided decisions for cattle bTB control at the local and national level, for example, local herd breakdown investigations and biosecurity advice, 2 20 and have been used in the design of wildlife interventions and research. 21-23 Despite the limitations, RTA surveys, compared with other field methods, represent a relatively inexpensive and non-invasive method to estimate the prevalence of tuberculosis in badgers.