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The Randomized Badger Culling Trial (RBCT) began in 1998 to determine the impact of badger culling in controlling bovine tuberculosis in cattle. A total of 1166 badgers (14% of total) proactively culled during the RBCT were found to be tuberculous, offering a unique opportunity to study the pathology caused by Mycobacterium bovis in a large sample of badgers. Of these, 39% of adults (approximately 6% of all adults culled) had visible lesions (detectable at necropsy) of bovine tuberculosis; cubs had a lower prevalence of infection (9%) but a higher percentage of tuberculous cubs (55.5%) had visible lesions. Only approximately 1% of adult badgers had extensive, severe pathology. Tuberculous badgers with recorded bite wounds (approximately 5%) had a higher prevalence of visible lesions and a different distribution of lesions, suggesting transmission via bite wounds. However, the predominance of lesions in the respiratory tract indicates that most transmission occurs by the respiratory route. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a survey, 457 badgers that had been found dead in Wales were postmortem-examined, and samples were examined by histology and by extended culture (for up to 12 weeks). Mycobacterium bovis was cultured from 55 badgers (12.0 per cent), and the histology typical of M bovis infection was seen in a further six (1.3 per cent). The prevalence in badgers in each of 10 geographical areas varied between 0 and 26 per cent (P<0.001), and was associated with the incidence of confirmed M bovis infection in cattle herds in the same areas (P<0.01). In northern Wales, bTB was rare in both hosts. An infected badger was 12.3 times more likely to be within 5 km of a confirmed cattle bTB breakdown than an uninfected badger. The M bovis isolates from badgers belonged to one of four genotypes defined by spoligotype and variable number tandem repeat type. These genotypes were also found in 290 concurrent confirmed herd breakdowns, and tended to be similar to the genotypes in badgers in the same geographical areas. When badgers and cattle no more than 30 km apart were compared, the genotype diversity was greater in cattle than in badgers (P=0.016), suggesting that the movement of cattle plays a greater part in the spatial distribution of M bovis than the movement of badgers.

Bovine tuberculosis (TB) is a zoonotic disease that can have serious consequences for cattle farming and, potentially, for public health. In Britain, failure to control bovine TB has been linked to persistent infection of European badger (Meles meles) populations. However, culling of badgers in the vicinity of recent TB outbreaks in cattle has failed to reduce the overall incidence of cattle TB. Using data from a large-scale study conducted in 1998-2005, we show that badgers collected on such localized culls had elevated prevalence of Mycobacterium bovis, the causative agent of bovine TB, suggesting that infections in cattle and badgers were indeed associated. Moreover, there was a high degree of similarity in the M. bovis strain types isolated from cattle and associated badgers. This similarity between strain types appeared to be unaffected by time lags between the detection of infection in cattle and culling of badgers, or by the presence of purchased cattle that might have acquired infection elsewhere. However, localized culling appeared to prompt an increase in the prevalence of M. bovis infection in badgers, probably by disrupting ranging and territorial behavior and hence increasing intraspecific transmission rates. This elevated prevalence among badgers could offset the benefits, for cattle, of reduced badger densities and may help to explain the failure of localized culling to reduce cattle TB incidence.

An isolate of Pasteurella haemolytica (A9), which consistently produced severe mastitis in ewes, was inoculated into the lactating mammary glands of a variety of species. Mastitis did not develop after the inoculation of log-phase bacteria into the mammary gland of lactating mice, rats, rabbits or sows but did so in the mammary gland of two cows. Another A9 isolate from a ewe with mastitis and an A1 isolate from a bovine pneumonic lung also induced mastitis in cows. Thus, in this study, P. haemolytica produced mastitis only in ruminant animals.

Lactating Welsh Mountain ewes were inoculated, 3 weeks after lambing, with between 1000 and 10,000 colony forming units of a number of isolates of Pasteurella haemolytica. Isolates from severe, acute mastitis in a ewe, from ovine and bovine pneumonic lesions and from the nasal cavity of healthy lambs, all gave rise to severe, acute mastitis that was clinically indistinguishable from that seen naturally. Two isolates from the milk of ewes with subclinical mastitis did not cause clinical disease after inoculation and, in most ewes, were immediately eliminated. These results suggest that a variety of strains of P. haemolytica are capable of causing severe mastitis in sheep, regardless of their origin, and that there are strains of lower pathogenicity for the mammary gland which are not capable of causing clinical mastitis.

The prevalence, aetiology and epidemiological features of subclinical mastitis were investigated in 358 lowland ewes in seven flocks in southern England. Milk samples (2092) were collected at 3-weekly intervals; those which were both bacteriologically and Whiteside test positive were deemed to have originated from glands with subclinical mastitis. The period prevalence of subclinical mastitis was 11.7% and the prevalence remained relatively constant over the course of lactation (5.5-7.0%). The predominant bacterial isolates from 48 glands with subclinical mastitis were streptococci (42%), coagulase-negative staphylococci (33%), Pasteurella haemolytica (17%) and Staphylococcus aureus (8%). Coagulase-negative staphylococci were the predominant isolates (53%) from samples which did not show a positive Whiteside test result. The prevalence of subclinical mastitis increased with age of ewe but was not influenced by the presence of teat lesions. There was a significant association between the development of clinical mastitis (26 glands) and antecedent subclinical mastitis caused by the same organism (10 glands).

Intense bombardment of the moon and terrestrial planets approximately 3.9-4.0 x 10(9) years ago could have caused the chemical reprocessing of the Earth's primitive atmosphere. In particular, the shock heating and rapid quenching caused by the impact of large bodies into the atmosphere could produce molecules such as HCN and H2CO4 which are important precursors for the abiotic synthesis of complex organic molecules. Here we model the production of HCN and H2CO by thermochemical equilibrium and chemical kinetic calculations of the composition of shocked air parcels for a wide range of temperatures, pressures and initial compositions. For atmospheres with C/O > or = 1, our results suggest that bolide impacts cause HCN volume mixing ratios of approximately 10(-3) to 10(-5) in the impact region and global average ratios of 10(-5) to 10(-12). The corresponding H2CO mixing ratios in the impact region are 10(-7) to 10(-9); no-global mixing can occur, however, as H2CO is rapidly destroyed or rained out of the atmosphere within days to hours. Rainout to the oceans of 3-15% of the HCN produced can provide approximately (3-14) x 10(11) mol HCN per year. This is somewhat larger than other predicted sources of HCN and H2CO on the primitive Earth.