Gormley Eamonn, Corner Leigh A L
School of Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
Front Vet Sci. 2018 Jan 15;4:247. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2017.00247. eCollection 2017.
Tuberculosis in animals is caused principally by infection with and the potential for transmission of infection to humans is often the fundamental driver for surveillance of disease in livestock and wild animals. However, with such a vast array of species susceptible to infection, it is often extremely difficult to gain a detailed understanding of the pathogenesis of infection--a key component of the epidemiology in all affected species. This is important because the development of disease control strategies in animals is determined chiefly by an understanding of the epidemiology of the disease. The most revealing data from which to formulate theories on pathogenesis are that observed in susceptible hosts infected by natural transmission. These data are gathered from detailed studies of the distribution of gross and histological lesions, and the presence and distribution of infection as determined by highly sensitive bacteriology procedures. The information can also be used to establish the baseline for evaluating experimental model systems. The European badger () is one of a very small number of wild animal hosts where detailed knowledge of the pathogenesis of infection has been generated from observations in natural-infected animals. By drawing parallels from other animal species, an experimental badger infection model has also been established where infection of the lower respiratory tract mimics infection and the disease observed in natural-infected badgers. This has facilitated the development of diagnostic tests and testing of vaccines that have the potential to control the disease in badgers. In this review, we highlight the fundamental principles of how detailed knowledge of pathogenesis can be used to evaluate specific intervention strategies, and how the badger model may be a paradigm for understanding pathogenesis of tuberculosis in any affected wild animal species.
动物结核病主要由感染引起，而感染传播给人类的可能性通常是监测家畜和野生动物疾病的根本驱动因素。然而，由于有如此众多的物种易受感染，往往极难详细了解感染的发病机制——这是所有受影响物种流行病学的关键组成部分。这一点很重要，因为动物疾病控制策略的制定主要取决于对疾病流行病学的了解。用于阐述发病机制理论的最具启发性的数据来自对自然传播感染的易感宿主的观察。这些数据来自对大体和组织学病变分布的详细研究，以及通过高度敏感的细菌学程序确定的感染存在情况和分布。这些信息还可用于建立评估实验模型系统的基线。欧洲獾是极少数已从自然感染动物的观察中获得关于感染发病机制详细知识的野生动物宿主之一。通过与其他动物物种进行类比，还建立了一种实验性獾感染模型，其中下呼吸道感染模拟自然感染獾中观察到的感染和疾病。这促进了诊断测试的开发以及对有可能控制獾结核病的疫苗的测试。在本综述中，我们强调了如何利用发病机制的详细知识来评估特定干预策略的基本原则，以及獾模型如何可能成为理解任何受影响野生动物物种结核病发病机制的范例。
