Impact of imperfect Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis vaccines in dairy herds: a mathematical modeling approach

Within-herd mathematical modeling of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis to assess the effectiveness of alternative intervention methods

Johne's disease (JD) in cattle is caused by Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) and is characterized by chronic, progressive enteritis that can lead to substantial weight loss, severe diarrhea, and eventual death. Economic losses due to JD are primarily driven by reduced milk production in subclinical and clinically infected cows, but also include reduced value when sold to slaughter, and costs associated with premature culling. Controlling the transmission of JD within a dairy herd can be achieved through proactive calf management practices and reactive test-based culling. While effective, test-and-cull interventions have the potential to result in net economic losses, particularly when the intervention includes culling of low-shedding cattle. Proactive calf management practices have been observed to be effective at controlling within-herd JD prevalence. However, assessing the magnitude of effect of interventions in observational and experimental studies can be difficult due to the pathogenesis of MAP and may take many years of data to provide meaningful results. The limitations of studying JD in nature presents an opportunity to use mathematical modelling techniques to assess the effectiveness of various interventions on the simulated within-herd disease dynamics of JD. The objectives of this study were to build a within-herd compartmental disease model of JD and assess the effectiveness of three interventions: 1) strategic insemination of test-positive low-shedding adult cattle to preferentially breed beef calves, 2) using separate calving areas for low- and high-shedding dams, and 3) test-based culling of low- and high-shedding cows. Model outcomes were compared to a base case model (i.e., no interventions) under four endemic within-herd prevalences. In general, simulations of test-based culling performed best at reducing long-term within-herd prevalence of JD. Strategic insemination and separate calving area interventions were both effective and performed similarly to one another, but even when combined were not as effective as test-and-cull alone. Finally, the results from the separate calving area intervention model suggest that increased dam-calf contact time would not result in a substantial increased within-herd prevalence. Given that some of the modelled populations in this study are very small and prevalence is very low, further work is needed to assess these interventions using discrete, stochastic methods, which may result in different outcomes.

Reviewing age-structured epidemiological models of cattle diseases tailored to support management decisions: Guidance for the future

Mechanistic simulation models are being increasingly used as tools to assist with animal health decision-making in the cattle sector. We reviewed scientific literature for studies reporting age-structured cattle management models in application to infectious diseases. Our emphasis was on papers dedicated to support decision making in the field. In this systematic review we considered 1290 manuscripts and identified 76 eligible studies. These are based on 52 individual models from 10 countries addressing 9 different pathogens. We provide an overview of these models and present in detail their theoretical foundations, design paradigms and incorporated processes. We propose a structure of the characteristics of cattle disease models using three main features: [1] biological processes, [2] farming-related processes and [3] pathogen-related processes. It would be of benefit if future cattle disease models were to follow this structure to facilitate science communication and to allow increased model transparency.

Effects of Age and Environment on Adaptive Immune Responses to Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) Vaccination in Dairy Goats in Relation to Paratuberculosis Control Strategies

Paratuberculosis infection is caused by Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP). In the Netherlands, 75% herd level prevalence of caprine paratuberculosis has been estimated, and vaccination is the principal control strategy applied. Most goat dairy farms with endemic paratuberculosis systematically vaccinate goat kids in the first months of life with a commercially available whole cell MAP vaccine. We hypothesized that the development of adaptive immune responses in goats vaccinated at young age depends on the environment they are raised in, and this has implications for the application of immune diagnostic tests in vaccinated dairy goats. We evaluated the early immune response to vaccination in young goat kids sourced from a MAP unsuspected non-vaccinated herd and raised in a MAP-free environment. Subsequently we compared these with responses observed in birth year and vaccination matched adult goats raised on farms with endemic paratuberculosis. Results indicated that initial adaptive immune responses to vaccination are limited in a MAP-free environment. In addition, adult antibody positive vaccinated goats raised in a MAP endemic environment are less likely to be IS900 PCR-positive as compared to antibody negative herd mates. We conclude that test-and-cull strategies in a vaccinated herd are currently not feasible using available immune diagnostic tests.

The inhibitory effect of nisin on Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis and its effect on mycobacterial cell wall

Infection with Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis (M. paratuberculosis) is a widespread problem in the United States and worldwide, and it constitutes a significant health problem for dairy animals with a potential effect on human health. Mycobacterium paratuberculosis is easily transmitted through consumption of contaminated milk; therefore, finding safe methods to reduce the mycobacterial load in milk and other dairy products is important to the dairy industry. The main objective of the current study was to investigate the effect of natural products, such as bacteriocins designated as "generally regarded as safe" (GRAS), on the survival of M. paratuberculosis in milk. Commercially synthesized bacteriocin (nisin) was used to examine its effect on the survival of laboratory and field isolates of M. paratuberculosis and in contaminated milk. Surprisingly, nisin had a higher minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against the laboratory strain (M. paratuberculosis K10), at 500 U/mL, than against field isolates (e.g., M. paratuberculosis 4B and JTC 1281), at 15 U/mL. In milk, growth of M. paratuberculosis was inhibited after treatment with levels of nisin that are permissible in human food at 4°C and 37°C. Using both fluorescent and scanning electron microscopy, we were able to identify defects in the bacterial cell walls of treated cultures. Our analysis indicated that nisin reduced membrane integrity by forming pores in the mycobacterial cell wall, thereby decreasing survival of M. paratuberculosis. Thus, nisin treatment of milk could be implemented as a control measure to reduce M. paratuberculosis secreted in milk from infected herds. Nisin could also be used to reduce M. paratuberculosis in colostrum given to calves from infected animals, improving biosecurity control in dairy herds affected by Johne's disease.

A data-driven individual-based model of infectious disease in livestock operation: A validation study for paratuberculosis

Chronic livestock diseases cause large financial loss and affect animal health and welfare. Controlling these diseases mostly requires precise information on both individual animal and population dynamics to inform the farmer’s decisions, but even successful control programmes do by no means assure elimination. Mathematical models provide opportunities to test different control and elimination options rather than implementing them in real herds, but these models require robust parameter estimation and validation. Fitting these models to data is a difficult task due to heterogeneities in livestock processes. In this paper, we develop an infectious disease modeling framework for a livestock disease (paratuberculosis) that is caused by Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP). Infection with MAP leads to reduced milk production, pregnancy rates, and slaughter value and increased culling rates in cattle and causes significant economic losses to the dairy industry. These economic effects are particularly important motivations in the control and elimination of MAP. In this framework, an individual-based model (IBM) of a dairy herd was built and MAP infection dynamics was integrated. Once the model produced realistic dynamics of MAP infection, we implemented an evaluation method by fitting it to data from three dairy herds from the Northeast region of the US. The model fitting exercises used least-squares and parameter space searching methods to obtain the best-fitted values of selected parameters. The best set of parameters were used to model the effect of interventions. The results show that the presented model can complement real herd statistics where the intervention strategies suggest a reduction in MAP prevalence without elimination. Overall, this research not only provides a complete model for MAP infection dynamics in a dairy herd but also offers a method for estimating parameters by fitting IBM models.

A nested compartmental model to assess the efficacy of paratuberculosis control measures on U.S. dairy farms

Paratuberculosis, also known as Johne's disease (JD), is a chronic contagious disease, caused by Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP). The disease is incurable, fatal and causes economic losses estimated to exceed 200 million dollars to the U.S. dairy industry annually. Several preventive and control measures have been recommended; however, only a few of these measures have been validated empirically. Using a nested compartmental (NC) modeling approach, the main objective of this research was to identify the best combination of control and preventive measures that minimizes the prevalence and incidence of JD and the risk of MAP occurrence in a dairy herd. The NC model employs both MAP transmission estimates and data on pen movement of cattle on a dairy to quantify the effectiveness of control and preventive measures. To obtain reasonable ranges of parameter values for between-pen movements, the NC model was fitted to the movement data of four typical California dairy farms. Using the estimated ranges of the movement parameters and those of JD from previous research, the basic reproduction number was calculated to measure the risk of MAP occurrence in each pen environment as well as the entire dairy. Although the interventions evaluated by the NC model were shown to reduce the infection, no single measure alone was capable of eradicating the infection. The numerical simulations suggest that a combination of test and cull with more frequent manure removal is the most effective method in reducing incidence, prevalence and the risk of MAP occurrence. Other control measures such as limiting calf-adult cow contacts, raising calves in a disease-free herd or colostrum management were less effective.

Control measures to prevent the increase of paratuberculosis prevalence in dairy cattle herds: an individual-based modelling approach

Paratuberculosis, a gastrointestinal disease caused by Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (Map), can lead to severe economic losses in dairy cattle farms. Current measures are aimed at controlling prevalence in infected herds, but are not fully effective. Our objective was to determine the most effective control measures to prevent an increase in adult prevalence in infected herds. We developed a new individual-based model coupling population and infection dynamics. Animals are characterized by their age (6 groups) and health state (6 states). The model accounted for all transmission routes and two control measures used in the field, namely reduced calf exposure to adult faeces and test-and-cull. We defined three herd statuses (low, moderate, and high) based on realistic prevalence ranges observed in French dairy cattle herds. We showed that the most relevant control measures depend on prevalence. Calf management and test-and-cull both were required to maximize the probability of stabilizing herd status. A reduced calf exposure was confirmed to be the most influential measure, followed by test frequency and the proportion of infected animals that were detected and culled. Culling of detected high shedders could be delayed for up to 3 months without impacting prevalence. Management of low prevalence herds is a priority since the probability of status stabilization is high after implementing prioritized measures. On the contrary, an increase in prevalence was particularly difficult to prevent in moderate prevalence herds, and was only feasible in high prevalence herds if the level of control was high.

Evaluation of fecal shedding and antibody response in dairy cattle infected with paratuberculosis using national surveillance data in Japan

Paratuberculosis or Johne's disease (JD), is a chronic infectious disease causing intractable diarrhea in cattle, which leads to less productivity, such as decreased milk yield, and lower daily weight gain. As a control measure against JD in cattle, national serological surveillance has been conducted in Japan since 1998. To conduct modeling studies that are useful to evaluate the effectiveness of control measures against JD, reliable parameter values, such as length of time from infection to the start of fecal shedding or antibody expression, are especially important. These parameters in the Japanese cattle population are assumed to be different from those in other countries with a higher prevalence of JD or in experimental infection settings; therefore, they must be estimated for the cattle population in Japan. Data from national surveillance conducted in Tokachi District, Hokkaido Prefecture, were used for this study. Using data from JD diagnostic tests for all cattle in Tokachi District between 1998 and 2014, all testing histories for infected animals were estimated as the number of tested cattle and positive cattle at each age of month for both fecal and antibody tests. A deterministic mathematical model for JD development, from infection to fecal shedding and antibody expression in infected cattle, was constructed to obtain the probability of testing positive when applied to both fecal and antibody tests at a given age. Likelihood was obtained from these estimated test results and best values for parameters were obtained using the Markov Chain Monte-Carlo method. Fifty-five percent of infected cattle were projected to have a transient shedding period, which was estimated to start 12 months after infection and last for 4 months. Persistent shedding was projected to occur in all infected cattle, and estimated to begin 7-84 months from infection. Following persistent shedding, antibody expression was estimated to start 7 months later. These values are useful for developing models to evaluate the status of JD infection and the effectiveness of control measures in the Japanese cattle population.

Field study on the use of vaccination to control the occurrence of lumpy skin disease in Ethiopian cattle

The current study was carried out in central and North-western parts of Ethiopia to assess the efficacy of Kenyan sheep pox virus strain vaccine (KS1 O-180) against natural lumpy skin disease (LSD) infection under field conditions by estimating its effect on the transmission and severity of the disease. For this study, an LSD outbreak was defined as the occurrence of at least one LSD case in a specified geographical area. An observational study was conducted on a total of 2053 (1304 vaccinated and 749 unvaccinated) cattle in 339 infected herds located in 10 sub-kebeles and a questionnaire survey was administered to 224 herd owners. Over 60% of the herd owners reported that the vaccine has a low to very low effect in protecting animals against clinical LSD; almost all of them indicated that the vaccine did not induce any adverse reactions. In the unvaccinated group of animals 31.1% were diagnosed with LSD while this was 22.5% in the vaccinated group (P<0.001). Severity of the disease was significantly reduced in vaccinated compared to unvaccinated animals (OR=0.68, 95% CI: 0.49; 0.96). Unvaccinated infected animals were more likely (predicted fraction=0.89) to develop moderate and severe disease than vaccinated infected animals (predicted fraction=0.84). LSD vaccine efficacy for susceptibility was estimated to be 0.46 (i.e. a susceptibility effect of 0.54) while the infectiousness effect of the vaccine was 1.83. In other words, the vaccine reduces the susceptibility by a factor of two and increases infectiousness by approximately the same amount. LSD transmission occurred in both vaccinated and unvaccinated animals, the estimated reproduction ratio (R) was 1.21 in unvaccinated animals compared to 1.19 in vaccinated ones, and not significantly different. In conclusion, KS1 O-180 vaccination, as applied currently in Ethiopia, has poor efficacy in protecting cattle populations against LSD, neither by direct clinical protection nor by reducing transmission, and this signifies the urgent need to either improve the quality of the vaccine or to develop potent alternative vaccines that will confer good protection against LSD.

Mechanisms of Antimicrobial Action of Cinnamon and Oregano Oils, Cinnamaldehyde, Carvacrol, 2,5-Dihydroxybenzaldehyde, and 2-Hydroxy-5-Methoxybenzaldehyde against Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (Map)

The antimicrobial modes of action of six naturally occurring compounds, cinnamon oil, cinnamaldehyde, oregano oil, carvacrol, 2,5-dihydroxybenzaldehyde, and 2-hydroxy-5-methoxybenzaldehyde, previously found to inhibit the growth of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (Map) reported to infect food animals and humans and to be present in milk, cheese, and meat, were investigated. The incubation of Map cultures in the presence of all six compounds caused phosphate ions to leak into the extracellular environment in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. Cinnamon oil and cinnamaldehyde decreased the intracellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP) concentration of Map cells, whereas oregano oil and carvacrol caused an initial decrease of intracellular ATP concentration that was restored gradually after incubation at 37 °C for 2 h. Neither 2,5-dihydroxybenzaldehyde nor 2-hydroxy-5-methoxybenzaldehyde had a significant effect on intracellular ATP concentration. None of the compounds tested were found to cause leakage of ATP to the extracellular environment. Monolayer studies involving a Langmuir trough apparatus revealed that all anti-Map compounds, especially the essential oil compounds, altered the molecular packing characteristics of phospholipid molecules of model membranes, causing fluidization. The results of the physicochemical model microbial membrane studies suggest that the destruction of the pathogenic bacteria might be associated with the disruption of the bacterial cell membrane.

Cost-benefit analysis of vaccination against Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis in dairy cattle, given its cross-reactivity with tuberculosis tests

Johne's disease (JD), or paratuberculosis, is a chronic enteric disease of ruminants, caused by infection with Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis (MAP). Johne's disease causes considerable economic losses to the US dairy industry, estimated to be over $200 million annually. Available control strategies include management measures to improve calf hygiene, test-and-cull strategies, and vaccination. Although the first 2 strategies have shown to reduce the prevalence of MAP, they require dedicated and long-term efforts from dairy producers, with often relatively slow progress. As a result, uptake of both strategies has not been as wide as expected given the economic benefits especially of improved hygiene. Vaccination has also been found to reduce the prevalence and economic losses of JD, but most economic estimates have been based on simulation of hypothetical vaccines. In addition, if an animal is vaccinated, cross-reactivity between MAP antibodies and bovine tuberculosis (BTB) antigens may occur, decreasing the specificity of BTB tests. Therefore, MAP vaccination would cause additional indirect costs to the BTB surveillance and control program. The objective of the present study was to use data from a MAP vaccine trial together with an epidemiologic and economic model to estimate the direct on-farm benefits of MAP vaccination and to estimate the indirect costs of MAP vaccination due to the cross-reactivity with BTB tests. Direct economic benefits of MAP vaccination were estimated at $8.03 (90% predictive interval: -$25.97 to $41.36) per adult animal per year, all accruing to the dairy producers. This estimate is likely an underestimation of the true direct benefits of MAP vaccination. In addition, indirect economic costs due to cross-reactivity were $2.14 per adult animal per year, making MAP vaccination economically attractive. Only in regions or states with a high frequency of BTB testing (because of, for example, Mycobacterium bovis outbreaks in a wild deer population) and areas where typically small groups of animals are BTB tested would MAP vaccination not be economically attractive.

An immuno-epidemiological model for Johne's disease in cattle

To better understand the mechanisms involved in the dynamics of Johne’s disease in dairy cattle, this paper illustrates a novel way to link a within-host model for Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis with an epidemiological model. The underlying variable in the within-host model is the time since infection. Two compartments, infected macrophages and T cells, of the within-host model feed into the epidemiological model through the direct transmission rate, disease-induced mortality rate, the vertical transmission rate, and the shedding of MAP into the environment. The epidemiological reproduction number depends on the within-host bacteria load in a complex way, exhibiting multiple peaks. A possible mechanism to account for the switch in shedding patterns of the bacteria in this disease is included in the within-host model, and its effect can be seen in the epidemiological reproduction model.

The long subclinical phase of Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis infections explained without adaptive immunity

Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis (MAP) is an infection of the ruminant intestine. In cows, a long subclinical phase with no or low intermittent shedding precedes the clinical phase with high shedding. It is generally considered that an adaptive cell-mediated immune response controls the infection during the subclinical phase, followed by unprotective antibodies later in life. Based on recent observations, we challenge the importance of adaptive immunity and instead suggest a role of the structural organization of infected macrophages in localized granulomatous lesions. We investigated this hypothesis by mathematical modelling. Our first model describes infection in a villus, assuming a constant lesion volume. This model shows the existence of two threshold parameters, the MAP reproduction ratio R_MAP determining if a lesion can develop, and the macrophage replacement ratio R_MF determining if recruitment of macrophages is sufficient for unlimited growth. We show that changes in R_MF during a cow’s life – i.e. changes in the innate immune response – can cause intermittent shedding. Our second model describes infection in a granuloma, assuming a growing lesion volume. This model confirms the results of the villus model, and can explain early slow granuloma development: small granulomas grow slower because bacteria leave the granuloma quickly through the relatively large surface area. In conclusion, our models show that the long subclinical period of MAP infection can result from the structural organization of the infection in granulomatous lesions with an important role for innate rather than adaptive immunity. It thus provides a reasonable hypothesis that needs further investigation.

Mathematical modelling of the transmission dynamics of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia reveals minimal target profiles for improved vaccines and diagnostic assays

Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) is a cattle disease that has hampered the development of the livestock sector in sub-Saharan Africa. Currently, vaccination with a live vaccine strain is its recommended control measure although unofficial antimicrobial use is widely practiced. Here, modelling techniques are used to assess the potential impact of early elimination of infected cattle via accurate diagnosis on CBPP dynamics. A herd-level stochastic epidemiological model explicitly incorporating test sensitivity and specificity is developed. Interventions by annual vaccination, annual testing and elimination and a combination of both are implemented in a stepwise manner and their effectiveness compared by running 1000 simulations per intervention over ten years. The model predicts that among the simulated interventions, the ones likely to eliminate the disease from an isolated herd all involved annual vaccination of more than 75% of the animals with a vaccine that protects for at least 18 months combined with annual testing (and elimination of positive reactors) of 75% of the animals every six months after vaccination. The highest probability of disease elimination was 97.5% and this could occur within a median of 2.3 years. Generally, our model predicts that regular testing and elimination of positive reactors using improved tests will play a significant role in minimizing CBPP burden especially in the current situation where improved vaccines are yet to be developed.

Immunity, safety and protection of an Adenovirus 5 prime--Modified Vaccinia virus Ankara boost subunit vaccine against Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis infection in calves

Vaccination is the most cost effective control measure for Johne’s disease caused by Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) but currently available whole cell killed formulations have limited efficacy and are incompatible with the diagnosis of bovine tuberculosis by tuberculin skin test. We have evaluated the utility of a viral delivery regimen of non-replicative human Adenovirus 5 and Modified Vaccinia virus Ankara recombinant for early entry MAP specific antigens (HAV) to show protection against challenge in a calf model and extensively screened for differential immunological markers associated with protection. We have shown that HAV vaccination was well tolerated, could be detected using a differentiation of infected and vaccinated animals (DIVA) test, showed no cross-reactivity with tuberculin and provided a degree of protection against challenge evidenced by a lack of faecal shedding in vaccinated animals that persisted throughout the 7 month infection period. Calves given HAV vaccination had significant priming and boosting of MAP derived antigen (PPD-J) specific CD4⁺, CD8⁺ IFN-γ producing T-cell populations and, upon challenge, developed early specific Th17 related immune responses, enhanced IFN-γ responses and retained a high MAP killing capacity in blood. During later phases post MAP challenge, PPD-J antigen specific IFN-γ and Th17 responses in HAV vaccinated animals corresponded with improvements in peripheral bacteraemia. By contrast a lack of IFN-γ, induction of FoxP3+ T cells and increased IL-1β and IL-10 secretion were indicative of progressive infection in Sham vaccinated animals. We conclude that HAV vaccination shows excellent promise as a new tool for improving control of MAP infection in cattle.

Progression to multi-scale models and the application to food system intervention strategies

The aim of this article is to discuss how the systems science approach can be used to optimize intervention strategies in food animal systems. It advocates the idea that the challenges of maintaining a safe food supply are best addressed by integrating modeling and mathematics with biological studies critical to formulation of public policy to address these challenges. Much information on the biology and epidemiology of food animal systems has been characterized through single-discipline methods, but until now this information has not been thoroughly utilized in a fully integrated manner. The examples are drawn from our current research. The first, explained in depth, uses clinical mastitis to introduce the concept of dynamic programming to optimize management decisions in dairy cows (also introducing the curse of dimensionality problem). In the second example, a compartmental epidemic model for Johne's disease with different intervention strategies is optimized. The goal of the optimization strategy depends on whether there is a relationship between Johne's and Crohn's disease. If so, optimization is based on eradication of infection; if not, it is based on the cow's performance only (i.e., economic optimization, similar to the mastitis example). The third example focuses on food safety to introduce risk assessment using Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella Typhimurium. The last example, practical interventions to effectively manage antibiotic resistance in beef and dairy cattle systems, introduces meta-population modeling that accounts for bacterial growth not only in the host (cow), but also in the cow's feed, drinking water and the housing environment. Each example stresses the need to progress toward multi-scale modeling. The article ends with examples of multi-scale systems, from food supply systems to Johne's disease. Reducing the consequences of foodborne illnesses (i.e., minimizing disease occurrence and associated costs) can only occur through an understanding of the system as a whole, including all its complexities. Thus the goal of future research should be to merge disciplines such as molecular biology, applied mathematics and social sciences to gain a better understanding of complex systems such as the food supply chain.

Using vaccination to prevent the invasion of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in dairy herds: a stochastic simulation study

Paratuberculosis, or Johne's disease (JD), is a chronic enteric disease of ruminants infected by Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) that causes a significant financial loss in dairy industry. To reduce prevalence and transmission in dairy herds infected with MAP, control programs have been implemented, including test-based culling, improved calf rearing management, and vaccination. The important issue of preventing MAP invasion into a MAP-free herd has been less investigated, however. The objective of this study was to examine whether vaccination was able to prevent MAP invasion in dairy cattle using a stochastic simulation approach. We developed a MAP vaccination model in which calves were vaccinated with a vaccine that is both imperfect in reducing the susceptibility of the host ('leaky') and that does not successfully immunize all calves ('failure in take'). Probability of MAP persistence and the number of infected animals in herds were computed for both control and vaccinated herds over a ten-year period after introduction of an initial infected heifer. Global parameter sensitivity analyses were performed to find the most influential parameters for MAP invasion. Our results show that vaccination of calves is effective in preventing MAP invasion, provided that the vaccine is of high efficacy in both reduction of susceptibility and 'take' effects; however, there is still a small chance (<0.15) that MAP can be sustained in herds over a long time (>10 years) due to vertical transmission. This study indicates that reduction in the transmission rate of high shedders (>50 CFU), the number of infected heifers initially introduced to herds, and vertical transmission are important to further decrease the probability of MAP becoming endemic and the overall number of infected animals in endemic herds. The simulation work is useful for designing vaccination programs aimed at preventing MAP invasion in MAP-free herds.

Rapid and sensitive method to identify Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in cow's milk by DNA methylase genotyping

Paratuberculosis is an infectious, chronic, and incurable disease that affects ruminants, caused by Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis. This bacterium is shed primarily through feces of infected cows but can be also excreted in colostrum and milk and might survive pasteurization. Since an association of genomic sequences of M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis in patients with Crohn's disease has been described; it is of interest to rapidly detect M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis in milk for human consumption. IS900 insertion is used as a target for PCR amplification to identify the presence of M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis in biological samples. Two target sequences were selected: IS1 (155 bp) and IS2 (94 bp). These fragments have a 100% identity among all M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis strains sequenced. M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis was specifically concentrated from milk samples by immunomagnetic separation prior to performing PCR. The amplicons were characterized using DNA methylase Genotyping, i.e., the amplicons were methylated with 6-methyl-adenine and digested with restriction enzymes to confirm their identity. The methylated amplicons from 100 CFU of M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis can be visualized in a Western blot format using an anti-6-methyl-adenine monoclonal antibody. The use of DNA methyltransferase genotyping coupled to a scintillation proximity assay allows for the detection of up to 10 CFU of M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis per ml of milk. This test is rapid and sensitive and allows for automation and thus multiple samples can be tested at the same time.