RT Journal Article
T1 Temporal Trend of Tuberculosis in Wild Ungulates from Mediterranean Spain
A1 Vicente, Joaquin
A1 Barasona García-Arévalo, José Ángel
A1 Acevedo, Pelayo
A1 Ruiz-Fons, José Francisco
A1 Boadella, Mariana
A1 Diez-Delgado, Iratxe
A1 Beltran-Beck, Beatriz
A1 Queirós, Jaoluis
A1 González Barrio, David
A1 Montoro, Vidal
A1 Fuente, José de la
A1 Gortazar, Christian
AB Tuberculosis (TB), a chronic disease caused by infection with the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, is endemic in wild boar (Sus scrofa) and red deer (Cervus elaphus) in south-central Spain. Understanding the temporal dynamics of this chronic infection requires long time series data collection over large areas. The aim of this paper was to identify the determinants of TB prevalence and severity in both species in Ciudad Real province, Spain, from 2000 to 2012. Study variables included management, population dynamics, and a range of geographical and climatological factors. The prevalence of TB in wild boar increased from 50% to 63% since the study commenced. This may be due to an increased hunting bag (a proxy for population abundance), which was correlated with TB infection rates. Low rainfall (a stochastic factor) was associated with higher individual risk of TB presence and progression, resulting in an increased proportion of severe cases of wild boar TB in dry years. This was probably a result of increased food restriction leading to a higher susceptibility to TB. In contrast, red deer TB showed an apparent stable trend, which may be a consequence of the species’ higher and stable population size. Hunting management, characterized by fencing, was associated with a higher risk of TB in both wild boar and red deer, suggesting that intensive hunting management may have contributed to exacerbated TB figures. This difference was more marked in red deer than in wild boar, probably because fencing imposes less restriction on movement, population mixing and TB spread to wild boar than to deer. Our findings on TB dynamics are fundamental for assessing the impact of future disease-control actions (e.g. field vaccination). Moreover, such control plans must operate in the long term and cover large areas.
PB Wiley
SN 1865-1674
YR 2013
FD 2013
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/98684
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/98684
LA eng
NO Vicente, J., et al. «Temporal Trend of Tuberculosis in Wild Ungulates from Mediterranean Spain». Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, vol. 60, noviembre de 2013, pp. 92-103. https://doi.org/10.1111/tbed.12167.
NO Ministerio de Economía, Comercio y Empresa (España)
NO WildTBVac
NO Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha 
NO Generalitat de Catalunya
NO European Commission
NO Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal)
DS Docta Complutense
RD 27 abr 2026