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Introduction

Human and animal tuberculosis (TB) are well-controlled diseases in most developed countries. However, the rapid population growth, widespread poverty, regional conflict, migration between countries, inappropriate application of disease control measures, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic continue to boost the number of cases and the negative effects of human and animal TB in most of Africa, including Cameroon (WHO 2009).

Bovine TB (BTB) is prevalent in cattle in many African countries (Ayele et al. 2004; Zinsstag et al. 2006), but the exact prevalence of BTB in cattle and the extent of zoonotic TB due to M. bovis on the continent are largely unknown. It is also generally unknown which of the M. bovis strains circulate in animals in Africa, the number of existing M. bovis maintenance hosts, and the role that they play in maintaining the infection and contribute to the spread of the infection. However, historical and clinical data, and the sporadic use of the intradermal tuberculin tests, the single cervical (SIT), and the comparative cervical (CCT) tests (Awah-Ndukum et al. 2012b), have clearly established the endemic nature of BTB in cattle in Cameroon (Awah-Ndukum et al. 2012a, b; Egbe et al. 2016). There is, however, a lack of understanding of the magnitude of the infection, and its distribution.

Effective application of the test-and-slaughter policy, the basis of national BTB control programs in developed countries, is not yet practicable in many developing countries because of logistical, political, and financial constraints. Evaluation and application of effective alternative strategies that are technically feasible and

J. Awah-Ndukum (*) ∙ V. Ngu-Ngwa

School of Veterinary Medicine and Sciences, University of Ngaoundere, Ngaoundere, Cameroon

N. F. Egbe

Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory Bamenda, Bamenda, Cameroon

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 283

A.

B. Dibaba et al. (eds.), Tuberculosis in Animals: An African Perspective, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18690-6_12 economically viable under these circumstances, should be the primary objective in preventing the widespread occurrence of the disease in Africa.

Though BTB is widespread in Cameroon (Awah-Ndukum et al. 2012a, b; Egbe et al. 2016), it remains a neglected zoonotic disease, and its presumptive diagnosis in animals is based mostly on detecting the characteristic macroscopic lesions found at slaughter, and during meat inspection in abattoirs. In many communities in Camer­oon, a number of practices increase the risk of contracting zoonotic BTB. In this country, it is common for humans and their animals to share an unhygienic micro­environment and water sources, especially during the dry season. In addition, the food preferences and eating habits of many Cameroonians, which include ingesting fresh animal products such as raw milk and meat, predispose them to contracting zoonotic TB. Other factors that may contribute to zoonotic BTB in Cameroon include the poor implementation of existing disease control legislation, poor mon­itoring and notification of the presence of the disease, and the lack of collaboration between the different public sector services responsible for controlling zoonotic diseases. In addition, inadequately trained veterinary and medical professionals, a poor diagnostic capability, the lack of public awareness about zoonotic TB, animal husbandry practices that predispose to the occurrence of the disease and human exposure to the infection, further complicate the matter (Ayele et al. 2004; AU/IBAR 2006; Kelly et al. 2016).

Because of the close human-livestock interaction in livestock-rearing communi­ties in Cameroon, opportunities exist for the transmission of M. bovis to humans. Although an estimated median of 2.8% (0-37.7%) of human TB cases in Africa is due to M. bovis, significantly higher prevalences have been reported in some communities, and a similar trend may be expected in Cameroon (Muller et al. 2013).

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Source: Dibaba A.B., Kriek N.P.J., Thoen C.O. (eds.). Tuberculosis in Animals: An African Perspective. Springer,2019. — 453 p.. 2019
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