New papers spotlight bovine TB surveillance gaps in Latin America

A new review in Veterinary Sciences argues that bovine tuberculosis remains an underrecognized zoonotic threat in Mexico and across Latin America, despite decades of control efforts and progress in some regions. The authors say Mycobacterium bovis continues to circulate where surveillance is uneven, pasteurization and food-safety controls are inconsistent, and coordination between animal health and human health systems is limited. A second, newly published meta-analysis in Preventive Veterinary Medicine adds that reported prevalence in dairy cattle and humans varies substantially depending on the diagnostic method used and herd-level conditions, suggesting that headline prevalence figures may understate or overstate local risk if testing context isn't considered. (mdpi.com)

Why it matters: For veterinarians, the message is less about a single outbreak than about a surveillance blind spot. The Mexico and Latin America review highlights persistent risks tied to raw milk and fresh cheeses, chronic underdetection in cattle, and the need for stronger One Health coordination. That matters in practice because bovine TB is a WOAH-listed disease with implications for herd health, trade, food safety, and occupational exposure, while CDC still notes that human M. bovis infection is most commonly linked to contaminated, unpasteurized dairy products. (mdpi.com)

What to watch: Expect more attention on molecular surveillance, test performance in endemic settings, and whether Mexico and neighboring countries can translate existing eradication frameworks into more consistent field detection and cross-sector reporting. (mdpi.com)