Shared Feed as a Means of Deer-to-Deer Transmission of Mycobacterium bovis

Authors

Mitchell V. Palmer, Bacterial Diseases of Livestock Research Unit, National Animal Disease Center, Agricultural Research Service, USDA, Ames, IowaFollow
W. Ray Waters, Bacterial Diseases of Livestock Research Unit, National Animal Disease Center, Agricultural Research Service, USDA, Ames, Iowa
Diana L. Whipple, Bacterial Diseases of Livestock Research Unit, National Animal Disease Center, Agricultural Research Service, USDA, Ames, Iowa

Date of this Version

2004

Comments

Published in Journal of Wildlife Diseases, 40(1), 2004, pp. 87–91.

Abstract

To determine the ability of experimentally inoculated white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) to transmit Mycobacterium bovis to naive deer through the sharing of feed, four deer were intratonsillarly inoculated with 4x10⁵ colony-forming units of M. bovis. On a daily basis, feed not consumed by inoculated deer after approximately 8 hr was offered to four naıve deer maintained in a separate pen, where direct contact, aerosol transmission, or transmission through personnel were prevented. After 150 days, naıve deer were euthanized and examined. All naıve deer had lesions consistent with tuberculosis and M. bovis was isolated from various tissues. The most commonly affected tissues were lung, tracheobronchial lymph nodes, and mediastinal lymph nodes. This study demonstrates the potential for indirect transmission of M. bovis through the sharing of feed. Intentional or unintentional feeding of deer by wildlife or agricultural interests in regions where M. bovis infection is endemic should be avoided because both direct and indirect transmission through sharing of feed are enhanced.