Download A study of the distribution of lesions in cattle caused by Mycobacterium bovis

The study evaluated the impacts of alternative post mortem inspection regimes for tuberculosis in cattle presented for slaughter in New Zealand relative to current practices. A retrospective analysis of slaughterhouse post mortem data collected from M. bovis infected animals was conducted and then a model which accurately simulated the current observed lesion prevalence was developed. It was found that approximately 50% of tissues could be dropped from the examination with only a 2% loss of sensitivity. A group of “operationally relevant” tissues could be dropped with only a 1% loss of sensitivity.

keywords: Bovine tuberculosis, lymph nodes, post mortem examination