Eliminating bovine tuberculosis from Australia

Abstract

Mycobacterium bovis, the causative organism of bovine tuberculosis (TB), has a worldwide distribution. Australia, like most developed countries, recognised the zoonotic risk of bovine TB, and embarked on state control programs to minimise the incidence of disease in cattle in the 1960’s and a national campaign to eradicate the disease in 1970. Veterinarians, physicians and many other different disciplines worked cooperatively in Australia to understand and solve the problem; perhaps a very early example of the One Health concept in action.