Bovine tuberculosis control and eradication in Brazil: Lessons to learn from the US and Australia

Brazil, Australia, and the United States of America (USA) are the top 3 beef exporting countries in the world. Livestock's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) accounts for 30% of the GDP of the Brazilian agricultural sector, which shares 21.5% of the country's GDP. The livestock production chain generated $148.47 billion USD in 2016, an increase of 27% over 2015 (ABIEC 2016). In 2015, the gross value of Australian cattle and calf production is estimated at $12.7 billion USD and the cattle industry involves 55% of all businesses with agricultural activity in the country (ABS 2017). In turn, the USA beef chain generated $170.62 billion USD and exports $6.34 billion USD in 2016. In terms of GDP, the red meat and poultry slaughter industry is the largest segment of USA agriculture (USDA 2017). In addition, Brazil, Australia, and the USA have other similarities, such as beef cattle predominantly raised in grass feed systems, structured Veterinary Services (VS), and large territorial dimension, which makes animal health challenges of those countries comparable. However, while the USA and Australia have almost solved major animal health challenges such as Foot and Mouth, brucellosis, and tuberculosis (TB), Brazil still has difficulties with those diseases with good progress towards the Foot and Mouth eradication but slowly in regards to brucellosis and TB eradication. Australia is one of the few international examples of successfully eradicating bovine tuberculosis (BTB), and the USA has the longest program of BTB eradication and has nearly eradicated the disease from the nation's livestock population (USDA, 2017). Due to the similarities of the three countries, Brazil can learn from the experience of the USA and Australia to achieve better results in its eradication program. The objectives of this review are: 1) to compare and highlight the similarities and differences between the BTB control and eradication programs of the three major players of the global meat market; 2) to address the challenges for the Brazilian National Program for Control and Eradication of Bovine Brucellosis and Tuberculosis (PNCEBT) to eradicate the BTB from the country; and 3) to provide recommendations for improvement of the PNCEBT.