Oxoid has announced the availability of the latest edition of its journal, Culture (volume 31, no. 1), which discusses the organism responsible for bovine tuberculosis.
The issue focuses on two key areas: the newly designated genus Cronobacter - an organism associated with severe neonatal infections, necrotising enterocolitis, septicaemia and potentially fatal meningitis; and Mycobacterium bovis - the causative bacterium of bovine tuberculosis.
Authored by Dr Steve Forsythe of the School of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, the Cronobacter article reviews the physiology, virulence, detection and control of this newly designated genus.
Elsewhere in the new issue, Jessica Parry of the Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Weybridge, describes how bovine tuberculosis (bTB) remains one of the most difficult animal health problems facing the farming industry in Britain today.
Her article cites the 5,000 new incidents (breakdowns) of bTB in British herds in 2008, an increase of 19.6 per cent over those recorded in 2007, and reports that post-mortem or culture evidence of M bovis infection was detected in about 55 per cent of these incidents.
The article describes the control of bTB in cattle; laboratory testing for M bovis, including bacterial culture, microscopic examination and molecular typing; and describes the problem of bTB in Eurasian badgers.
The article concludes by looking at the future of bTB and 2010 eradication programmes in the UK.
