Strengthening Bovine Tuberculosis Control in Veterinary Practice: From Farmer Awareness to Field Surveillance

Effective control of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) depends on more than diagnosing infected animals. Success relies on timely disease recognition, active surveillance, farmer participation, and preventive interventions that reduce transmission within and between herds. In India, where a large proportion of dairy farming is carried out by smallholder households, veterinarians are often the first point of contact when animals become ill. This places veterinary professionals at the forefront of disease awareness, surveillance, and herd health management. By integrating practical field strategies into routine practice, veterinarians can contribute significantly to reducing the burden of bovine tuberculosis while protecting both animal and public health. 

Building Farmer Awareness: The First Line of Defence 

Disease control begins with informed livestock owners. Limited awareness about bovine tuberculosis can delay veterinary intervention and allow infection to spread within herds. Observations from India indicate that many farmers recognize tuberculosis only as a human disease and often seek veterinary consultation only after animals develop advanced clinical signs^1,2. 

Improving awareness enables animal handlers to identify suspicious signs earlier and seek veterinary assistance before further transmission occurs. Community-based education, regular farm visits, and communication through veterinary and healthcare professionals can strengthen understanding of bovine tuberculosis, its consequences, and the importance of timely diagnosis. Encouraging farmers to recognize themselves as active stakeholders in disease control is an important component of long-term eradication efforts². 

Routine surveillance remains one of the most valuable tools available to veterinarians. Ante-mortem testing has played an important role in bovine tuberculosis eradication programmes globally by identifying infected animals before they become an ongoing source of infection¹. 

Once reactor animals are identified, prompt segregation from the herd helps reduce opportunities for disease transmission. Participation in surveillance programmes may also improve herd-level disease monitoring and support broader control initiatives. Incentives for maintaining bovine tuberculosis-free herds have also been proposed as a means of encouraging participation during the early stages of eradication programmes. 

Post-mortem surveillance is another valuable opportunity for disease detection. Although routine slaughterhouse surveillance is not widely practiced in India, proper meat inspection in abattoirs can identify animals with visible tuberculosis-like lesions and strengthen surveillance, particularly in endemic regions^3,4,5,6. 

Preventing Disease Spread Within and Between Herds 

Identifying a positive animal should trigger further herd investigation rather than conclude the diagnostic process. Contact tracing of animals currently exposed to, or previously in contact with, infected cattle can help identify epidemiologically linked herds and support earlier intervention ¹. 

An additional challenge arises when infected animals are sold rather than removed from production because of economic concerns. Such movement may facilitate disease spread from one herd to another. 

Veterinarians can play an important role by advising livestock owners on the risks associated with moving infected animals and by encouraging appropriate disease reporting and herd management practices. 

Food safety should also remain part of routine veterinary discussions. Nearly half of India's milk is consumed locally, often without pasteurization, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis or M. bovis have been isolated from milk collected from infected animals¹. Educating producers about milk hygiene and pasteurization supports disease prevention beyond the farm. 

Looking Ahead: Vaccination and Future Control Strategies 

Vaccination continues to be explored as part of long-term bovine tuberculosis control. Although BCG vaccination has demonstrated limitations, including interference with tuberculin skin testing, advances involving antigens such as ESAT-6, CFP10, and Rv3615c, together with DIVA (Differentiate Infected from Vaccinated Animals) tests, may improve future implementation strategies¹. Remaining informed about these developments enables veterinarians to understand how future control programmes may evolve. 

Practical Clinical Insights 

Routine veterinary visits provide valuable opportunities to educate farmers, promote surveillance, encourage timely testing, and reinforce responsible herd management. Early segregation of reactor animals, support for slaughterhouse surveillance, appropriate contact tracing, and discussions on milk safety can collectively strengthen bovine tuberculosis control. By integrating these practical measures into everyday veterinary practice, clinicians can contribute meaningfully to herd health while supporting broader disease prevention efforts. 

Conclusion 

Controlling bovine tuberculosis requires sustained collaboration between veterinarians, livestock owners, and public health systems. Farmer awareness, surveillance, timely herd interventions, contact tracing, and food safety measures each represent practical components of an effective control strategy. Through consistent application of these approaches, veterinarians can help strengthen disease detection, reduce transmission, and support long-term bovine tuberculosis control in India. 

References 

1. Ramanujam H, Palaniyandi K. Bovine tuberculosis in India: The need for One Health approach and the way forward. One Health. 2023 Jun 1;16:100495. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352771423000150 

2. Chauhan AS, George MS, Lindahl J, Grace D, Kakkar M. Community, system and policy level drivers of bovine tuberculosis in smallholder periurban dairy farms in India: a qualitative enquiry. BMC Public Health. 2019 Mar 13;19(1):301. https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s12889-019-6634-3.pdf 

3. H. Ramanujam, K. Thiruvengadam, R. Singaraj, K. Palaniyandi, Role of abattoir monitoring in determining the prevalence of bovine tuberculosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis, Transbound, Emerg. Dis. (2021) 1–16, https://doi.org/%2010.1111/tbe 

4. Pascual-Linaza AV, Gordon AW, Stringer LA, Menzies FD. Efficiency of slaughterhouse surveillance for the detection of bovine tuberculosis in cattle in Northern Ireland. Epidemiology & Infection. 2017 Apr;145(5):995-1005. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0950268816003095 

5. Baru AG, HR CG. Slaughter house surveillance for tuberculosis among cattle in Ri-Bhoi district of Meghalaya. Culture. 2016;18:15-20. https://www.academia.edu/download/76812721/1-1-11-430.pdf 

6. A. Barua, H. Raj, C. Goswami, P. Konwar, J. Chutia, Bovine tuberculosis- abattoir prevalence, species identification and its economic impact assessment of Assam and Meghalaya, Int. J. Livest. Res. 8 (2018) 204, https://doi.org/10.5455/ ijlr.2018020909