The Food & Environment Research Agency, Sand Hutton, York, Yorkshire, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2011;6(12):e28941. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0028941. Epub 2011 Dec 29.
Bovine tuberculosis caused by Mycobacterium bovis is a serious and economically important disease of cattle. Badgers have been implicated in the transmission and maintenance of the disease in the UK since the 1970s. Recent studies have provided substantial evidence of widespread and frequent visits by badgers to farm buildings during which there is the potential for close direct contact with cattle and contamination of cattle feed.
Here we evaluated the effectiveness of simple exclusion measures in improving farm biosecurity and preventing badger visits to farm buildings. In the first phase of the study, 32 farms were surveyed using motion-triggered infrared cameras on potential entrances to farm buildings to determine the background level of badger visits experienced by each farm. In the second phase, they were divided into four treatment groups; "Control", "Feed Storage", "Cattle Housing" and "Both", whereby no exclusion measures were installed, exclusion measures were installed on feed storage areas only, cattle housing only or both feed storage and cattle housing, respectively. Badger exclusion measures included sheet metal gates, adjustable metal panels for gates, sheet metal fencing, feed bins and electric fencing. Cameras were deployed for at least 365 nights in each phase on each farm.
Badger visits to farm buildings occurred on 19 of the 32 farms in phase one. In phase two, the simple exclusion measures were 100% effective in preventing badger entry into farm buildings, as long as they were appropriately deployed. Furthermore, the installation of exclusion measures also reduced the level of badger visits to the rest of the farmyard. The findings of the present study clearly demonstrate how relatively simple practical measures can substantially reduce the likelihood of badger visits to buildings and reduce some of the potential for contact and disease transmission between badgers and cattle.
由牛分枝杆菌引起的牛型结核是一种严重且对经济有重要影响的牛病。自 20 世纪 70 年代以来，獾已被牵连到英国该疾病的传播和维持中。最近的研究提供了大量证据，表明獾广泛且频繁地访问农场建筑，在此期间，它们有可能与牛密切直接接触，并污染牛饲料。
在这里，我们评估了简单的排除措施在改善农场生物安全和防止獾访问农场建筑方面的有效性。在研究的第一阶段，使用运动触发的红外摄像机对潜在的农场建筑入口进行调查，以确定每个农场经历的獾访问的背景水平。在第二阶段，将它们分为四个治疗组；“对照”、“饲料储存”、“牛舍”和“两者”，即不安装排除措施，仅在饲料储存区、牛舍或饲料储存和牛舍分别安装排除措施。獾排除措施包括金属板门、可调金属板门、金属板围栏、饲料箱和电子围栏。在每个阶段，每个农场的每个地点都至少部署了 365 个夜晚的摄像机。
在第一阶段，32 个农场中有 19 个发生了獾访问农场建筑的情况。在第二阶段，只要适当部署，这些简单的排除措施 100%有效防止了獾进入农场建筑。此外，排除措施的安装还降低了獾对农场其他区域的访问水平。本研究的结果清楚地表明，相对简单的实用措施如何可以大大降低獾访问建筑物的可能性，并减少獾与牛之间接触和疾病传播的一些可能性。
