Immunological approaches to the control of tuberculosis in wildlife reservoirs

Attempts to eradicate tuberculosis from cattle and farmed deer in some coun tries have been frustrated by the existence of wildlife reservoirs of Mycob acterium bovis infection. Possum control programmes in New Zealand using po isons have shown clearly that the brushtail possum is an important source o f infection for cattle and farmed deer, and the sum of evidence strongly su ggests that badgers serve as a source of infection for cattle in the UK. Bo vine tuberculosis can only be eradicated from these countries by controllin g M. bovis infection in both wildlife and domestic animals, The most promis ing options for control of M. bovis infection in wildlife in the longer ter m include the development of a tuberculosis vaccine for wildlife and a stra tegy for biological control of possums. The aim of this review is to addres s the problems and approaches involved in the control of wildlife tuberculo sis from an immunological perspective. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All r ights reserved.