Prevention and Control of BTB
In Rwanda, the control of animal diseases, including infectious diseases such as BTB, is the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI), and the Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB).
In contrast to developed countries where BTB eradication programs, based on the test-and-slaughter principle, and milk pasteurization, have been successful (Cosivi et al. 1998; Biet et al. 2005), in Rwanda, there is no specific program to prevent and control BTB. In addition to the limited veterinary diagnostic ability, the situation is further complicated by BTB not being listed as one of the diseases for which animals must be tested before importation from neighboring countries that often have a high prevalence of BTB.
The test-and-slaughter policy for the control of BTB as applied in the developed countries, remains prohibitively expensive for Rwanda (Smith et al. 2014; Bezos et al. 2014), and less expensive but effective preventive measures such as testing animals before importation can initially be applied to reduce and subsequently control the disease in the long term.
A pilot study to investigate the prevalence and economic impact of BTB based on intradermal tuberculin tests and meat inspection is currently being conducted nationally. This study is anticipated to shed light on the true burden of the disease on which then to formulate recommendations for control measures. The Government should also consider DNA fingerprinting of strains of M. bovis that are circulating in Rwanda to assess the extent of cross-infection between different animal species and humans.
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