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Review and Scientific Articles

Epidemiology and control of Mycobacterium bovis infection in brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula), the primary wildlife host of bovine tuberculosis in New Zealand

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Pages 28-41 | Received 15 Jul 2013, Accepted 20 Jun 2014, Published online: 03 Feb 2015

Figures & data

Figure 1. Relationship between possum abundance, represented by mean (and 95% CI) modified trap catch index (TCI), and mean prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) in possums from five study areas (>5,000 ha) in the North Island of New Zealand in the late 1990s. The modified TCI is likely to be substantially lower than the standard residual trap catch index measure of possum relative abundance, because far longer than normal trap lines were used and multi-kill cyanide baits were additionally placed between traps. Adapted from Nugent (Citation2005).

Figure 1. Relationship between possum abundance, represented by mean (and 95% CI) modified trap catch index (TCI), and mean prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) in possums from five study areas (>5,000 ha) in the North Island of New Zealand in the late 1990s. The modified TCI is likely to be substantially lower than the standard residual trap catch index measure of possum relative abundance, because far longer than normal trap lines were used and multi-kill cyanide baits were additionally placed between traps. Adapted from Nugent (Citation2005).

Table 1. Area surveyed, number of possums necropsied, sampling intensity (possums/ha), possums with tuberculosis (TB)-like lesions and lesions that were culture positive for Mycobacterium bovis, and the percentage prevalence of confirmed TB lesions (with upper 99%CI), in operational surveys conducted by TB free NZ during 2007–2012, in areas with different intensities of possum control (G Knowles, unpublished data).