Editorial: Bovine Tuberculosis-International Perspectives on Epidemiology and Management.

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Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) remains a prominent zoonotic pathogen on the world stage, with significant impacts on animal and human health, and economic well-being. Eradication is hampered by a complex epidemiology, which in many countries involves wildlife hosts. Indeed, despite advances in understanding gleaned from national programs of bTB eradication, much of our understanding of transmission mechanisms, diagnostics, control, and multi-host infection systems remains opaque. In this collection of Frontiers in Veterinary Science, as editors, we felt these limitations could best be addressed by adopting an international perspective. Localism understandably focuses on the fine details of problems at hand, but can perhaps overlook issues that only become apparent when compared to the experiences of others. Below we summarize the papers published in this truly international collection, and highlight some themes. We trust readers will find these articles as stimulating to read as they were to edit. Theme: Modeling as a Tool for Understanding bTB Modeling approaches were used to gain insights and make inferences on a number of different problems in bTB management. Ladreyt et al. in their paper “In silico Comparison of Test-and-Cull Protocols for Bovine Tuberculosis Control in France,” developed a stochastic simulation model to explore the potential impacts of differing test-and-cull options relative to whole herd depopulations in terms of epidemiological effectiveness, cost and acceptability to stakeholders. The authors suggest the model will be of utility for decision support for comparing alternative control protocols. In “Exploring the Fate of Cattle Herds With Inconclusive Reactors to the Tuberculin Skin Test,” Brunton et al. used statistical survival models to track the future risk of herds which retained inconclusive reactor (IR) animals. The authors reported significant increased future risk in herds with IR animals detected, relative to negative herds, and suggested that careful decision-making around the management of IR reactors needs to be employed to help mitigate such risk. Statistical models were used by Frankena et al. in their paper “A New Model to Calibrate a Reference Standard for Bovine Tuberculin Purified Protein Derivative in the Target Species” to determine the potency of an in-house developed, reference standard of M. bovis purified protein derivative (PPDb). Secondarily, the model determined the precision and accuracy of the test relative to a standard (guinea pig) potency test. Such work will be important for ensuring uniformity of standards of PPD for bTB test diagnostics, as the Bovine International Standard (BIS) supply is limited. Simulation and mathematical modeling has been a fundamental tool for bovine tuberculosis control, especially where wildlife reservoir species are involved. In “Modeling as a Decision Support Tool for Bovine TB Control Programs in Wildlife,” Smith and Delahay concentrate on the badger-TB episystem to highlight methodological approaches used to model disease dynamics and control interventions. The paper also highlights how future data collection could be integrated into modeling endeavors, and how such models could be optimally utilized.