One Health Diagnostic Strategies For Bovine TB: Conventional Platforms To Cutting-Edge Technologies

Abstract

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is a chronic zoonotic disease, the causative agent of which is one of the components of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC): Mycobacterium bovis. In India, this disease affects almost 7.3% of cattles and buffaloes, which may pose a major economic loss. Most commonly, humans contract this disease through the consumption of unpasteurised milk or milk products and undercooked or contaminated meat. The diagnosis of this disease is difficult for several reasons, including a lack of awareness among farmers, rural residents, and veterinarians; the presence of varied clinical signs; and inadequate laboratory infrastructure. Even the animal remains asymptomatic at the initial stage of infection but can still transmit the disease to humans. Timely diagnosis and appropriate control measures are therefore essential. Diagnosis uses a spectrum of methods: conventional approaches (culture, microscopy, tuberculin skin testing, such as TST/SIT/CIT) remain important in low-resource settings but are time-consuming. Faster molecular and cutting-edge tools (PCR variants, RFLP, LAMP, NGS, WGS, and Digital PCR) provide higher resolution, speed and support vaccine and therapeutic research, though each method has trade-offs in cost, expertise, and infrastructure needs. Combining appropriate diagnostic, vaccination, treatment, and control programmes is necessary to reduce the burden of bovine tuberculosis in both animals and humans.