ARS | Publication request: BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS IN CERVIDAE

Submitted to: American Veterinary Medical Association Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: July 24, 1996
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: In deer, the lesions caused by Mycobacterium bovis are primarily seen in the lymph nodes of the head, the lungs and thoracic lymph nodes, and the body nodes respectively. Experimental inoculation via the tonsil has produced a pattern of lesions in red deer and wapiti that is consistent with that seen at necropsy in field infections and at abattoirs. Antemortem diagnosis by intradermal injection of PPD in the cervical skin has good sensitivity early in the infection in red deer and wapiti but may fail due to anergy later. Antibody may not be detected at all in some infections in red deer but is a good indicator of disease severity. Some deer species such as sika deer and axis deer may have a different pathogenesis of the disease, particularly pulmonary infections.