Abstract
Bovine tuberculosis is a serious disease of cattle in the UK where the Eurasian badger (Meles meles) is implicated as a source of infection. We describe a long-term ecological and epidemiological study of a high density badger population at Woodchester Park, and review some of the principal results. Options for management of transmission to cattle include culling or vaccinating badgers, and changes to cattle husbandry practices to minimise interactions. The results of intensive field studies suggest that the social disturbance created by culling may have counter-productive epidemiological consequences. Badger vaccination and changes to farm husbandry practices require considerable further research before their impact on cattle herd breakdown rates can be quantified.
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