New generation vaccines and delivery systems for control of bovine tuberculosis in cattle and wildlife

Advances in the understanding of protective immune responses to tuberculosis are providing opportunities for the rational development of improved vaccines for bovine tuberculosis. Protection requires activation of macrophages through stimulation of a Th 1 type immune response. Ideally, a vaccine for cattle should induce protection without causing animals to react in a tuberculin test when exposed to Mycobacterium bovis. A number of new tuberculosis vaccines including attenuated M. bovis strains, killed mycobacteria, protein and DNA vaccines have been developed and many of these are being assessed in cattle. The requirements for a tuberculosis vaccine for wildlife differ from those for cattle. The major goal of a wildlife vaccine is to prevent the transmission of M. bovis to cattle and other wildlife. Although there are a number of technical problems associated with the development of a vaccine delivery system for wildlife, attenuated M. bovis vaccines administered via oral baits or aerosol spray to possums have already been shown to reduce the severity of a subsequent M. bovis infection.