The study found that TB in cattle passes between members of the same species at least twice as often than between badger and cow.

Findings could improve control strategies and reduce disease transmission

A study by the University of Edinburgh has revealed new insights into how tuberculosis (TB) is spread between cows and badgers.

Writing in the journal eLife, researchers found that TB in cattle and badgers passes between members of the same species at least twice as often than between badger and cow.

Genetic analysis of the TB-causing bacteria also revealed that cattle are around ten times more likely to catch the disease from badgers, than badgers are to catch it from cattle.

Scientists say the findings could improve control strategies, reduce disease transmission and cut associated costs.

“Current approaches to controlling bovine tuberculosis only discriminate at a very coarse, regional level between areas where badgers are more likely to be involved in infecting cattle from areas where they are not,” explains Rowland Kao, professor of veterinary epidemiology and data science at the University of Edinburgh.

“This work identifies genetic signatures that could guide the interpretation of similar data if collected in other, less-intensively studied areas. This would allow for a more targeted control of tuberculosis in cattle and badgers, aiding efforts to control the disease and reduce the impact on the badger population.”

In the study, scientists sequenced the genome of an undistributed population of badgers in Woodchester Park, Gloucestershire and nearby cattle farms. They then combined this with detailed information about where the cattle and badgers lived, when they were infected, and whether they could have had contact with one another.

With this data, researchers were able to estimate how often the two species spread TB, revealing that badgers play a key part in the maintenance of the disease in this area.

The study was conducted by experts from the University of Edinburgh, with collaborators from institutions including the Animal and Plant Health Agency, the University of Glasgow and University College Dublin.