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Title:   Author  item
                                            Palmer, Mitchellitem
                                            Waters, Wadeitem
                                            Whipple, Diana
  Submitted to: Journal of Wildlife Diseases
                                    Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
                                    Publication Acceptance Date: 10/5/2003
                                    Publication  Date: 1/1/2004
                                    Citation: Palmer, M.V., Waters, W.R., Whipple, D.L. 2004. Shared feed as a means of deer to deer transmission of mycobacterium bovis. Journal of Wildlife Diseases. 40:87-91.Interpretive Summary: Supplemental feeding of deer is thought to contribute to deer to deer transmission of tuberculosis. To determine the ability of experimentally inoculated white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) to transmit Mycobacterium bovis, the causative agent of tuberculosis in deer, to naïve deer through the sharing of feed, 4 deer were experimentally infected with M. bovis. On a daily basis, feed not consumed by inoculated deer after approximately 8 hours, was offered to 4 non-infected deer maintained in a separate pen where direct contact, aerosol transmission, or transmission through personnel were prevented. After 150 days, non-infected deer were euthanized and examined. All non-infected deer had lesions consistent with tuberculosis and M. bovis was isolated from various tissues. The most commonly affected tissues were the lung, tracheobronchial lymph nodes and mediastinal lymph nodes. This study demonstrates the potential for indirect transmission of M. bovis through the sharing of feed. Artificial feeding of deer in regions where M. bovis infection is endemic should be avoided, as both direct and indirect transmission through sharing of feed are enhanced. This information is important to wildlife and domestic animal health officials and supports regulations prohibiting the supplemental feeding of deer as a means of decreasing disease transmission.
                                Technical Abstract: To determine the ability of experimentally inoculated white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) to transmit Mycobacterium bovis to naïve deer through the sharing of feed, 4 deer were intratonsillarly inoculated with 4 x 10**5 (colony forming units) CFU of M. bovis. On a daily basis, feed not consumed by inoculated deer after approximately 8 hours, was offered to 4 naïve deer maintained in a separate pen where direct contact, aerosol transmission, or transmission through personnel were prevented. After 150 days, naïve deer were euthanized and examined. All naïve deer had lesions consistent with tuberculosis and M. bovis was isolated from various tissues. The most commonly affected tissues were the lung, tracheobronchial lymph nodes and mediastinal lymph nodes. This study demonstrates the potential for indirect transmission of M. bovis through the sharing of feed. Artificial feeding of deer in regions where M. bovis infection is endemic should be avoided, as both direct and indirect transmission through sharing of feed are enhanced.


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