Epidemiological investigation of bovine tuberculosis herd breakdowns in Spain 2009/2011

We analyzed the most likely cause of 687 bovine tuberculosis (bTB) breakdowns detected in Spain between 2009 and 2011 (i.e., 22% of the total number of breakdowns detected during this period). Seven possible causes were considered: i) residual infection; ii) introduction of infected cattle from other herds; iii) sharing of pastures with infected herds; iv) contiguous spread from infected neighbor herds; v) presence of infected goats in the farm; vi) interaction with wildlife reservoirs and vii) contact with an infected human. For each possible cause a decision tree was developed and key questions were included in each of them. Answers to these key questions lead to different events within each decision tree. In order to assess the likelihood of occurrence of the different events a qualitative risk assessment approach was used. For this purpose, an expert opinion workshop was organized and ordinal values, ranging from 0 to 9 (i.e., null to very high likelihood of occurrence) were assigned. The analysis identified residual infection as the most frequent cause of bTB breakdowns (22.3%; 95%CI: 19.4-25.6), followed by interaction with wildlife reservoirs (13.1%; 95%CI: 10.8-15.8). The introduction of infected cattle, sharing of pastures and contiguous spread from infected neighbour herds were also identified as relevant causes. In 41.6% (95%CI: 38.0-45.4) of the breakdowns the origin of infection remained unknown. Veterinary officers conducting bTB breakdown investigations have to state their opinion about the possible cause of each breakdown. Comparison between the results of our analysis and the opinion from veterinary officers revealed a slight concordance. This slight agreement might reflect a lack of harmonized criteria to assess the most likely cause of bTB breakdowns as well as different perceptions about the importance of the possible causes. This is especially relevant in the case of the role of wildlife reservoirs

Evaluating the association between artificial light-at-night exposure and breast and prostate cancer risk in Spain (MCC-Spain study).

BACKGROUND: Night shift work, exposure to light at night (ALAN) and circadian disruption may increase the risk of hormone-dependent cancers. OBJECTIVES: We evaluated the association of exposure to ALAN during sleeping time with breast and prostate cancer in a population based multicase-control study (MCC-Spain), among subjects who had never worked at night. We evaluated chronotype, a characteristic that may relate to adaptation to light at night. METHODS: We enrolled 1,219 breast cancer cases, 1,385 female controls, 623 prostate cancer cases, and 879 male controls from 11 Spanish regions in 2008-2013. Indoor ALAN information was obtained through questionnaires. Outdoor ALAN was analyzed using images from the International Space Station (ISS) available for Barcelona and Madrid for 2012-2013, including data of remotely sensed upward light intensity and blue light spectrum information for each geocoded longest residence of each MCC-Spain subject. RESULTS: Among Barcelona and Madrid participants with information on both indoor and outdoor ALAN, exposure to outdoor ALAN in the blue light spectrum was associated with breast cancer [adjusted odds ratio (OR) for highest vs. lowest tertile, OR=1.47; 95% CI: 1.00, 2.17] and prostate cancer (OR=2.05; 95% CI: 1.38, 3.03). In contrast, those exposed to the highest versus lowest intensity of outdoor ALAN were more likely to be controls than cases, particularly for prostate cancer. Compared with those who reported sleeping in total darkness, men who slept in "quite illuminated" bedrooms had a higher risk of prostate cancer (OR=2.79; 95% CI: 1.55, 5.04), whereas women had a slightly lower risk of breast cancer (OR=0.77; 95% CI: 0.39, 1.51). CONCLUSION: Both prostate and breast cancer were associated with high estimated exposure to outdoor ALAN in the blue-enriched light spectrum. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP1837.The study was partially funded by the Accion Transversal del Cancer, approved by the Spanish Ministry Council on 11 October 2007, by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III-FEDER (PI08/1770, PI08/0533, PI08/1359, PS09/00773-Cantabria, PS09/01286-León, PS09/01903-Valencia, PS09/02078-Huelva, PS09/01662-Granada, PI11/01889-FEDER, PI11/02213, PI12/00488, PI12/00265, PI12/01270, PI12/00715, PI14/0613), by the Fundación Marqués de Valdecilla (API 10/09), by the ICGC International Cancer Genome Consortium CLL [the ICGC CLL-Genome Project is funded by Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) through the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) and Red Temática de Investigación del Cáncer (RTICC) del ISCIII (RD12/0036/0036)], by the Junta de Castilla y León (LE22A10-2), by the Consejería de Salud of the Junta de Andalucía (PI-0571-2009, PI-0306-2011, salud201200057018tra), by the Conselleria de Sanitat of the Generalitat Valenciana (AP_061/10), by the Regional Government of the Basque Country, by the Consejería de Sanidad de la Región de Murcia, by the European Commission grants FOOD-CT-2006-036224-HIWATE, by the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC) Scientific Foundation, by the Catalan Government–Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR) grants 2014SGR647 and 2014SGR850, by the Fundación Caja de Ahorros de Asturias, and by the University of Oviedo. ISGlobal is a member of the Centres de Recerca de Catalunya (CERCA) Programme, Generalitat de Catalunya. This research was also supported in part by the STARS4ALL project funded by the H2020-ICT-2015-688135 program of the European Union, the ORISON project funded by the H2020-INFRASUPP-2015-2 program of the European Union, and through the resources of researchers and collaborators of the Cities at Night project. J.G.-P. was funded by the Scientific Foundation of the Spanish Association against Cancer (Fundación Científica de la Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer (AECC), EVP-1178/14)

Epidemiological Investigation of Bovine Tuberculosis Herd Breakdowns in Spain 2009/2011

We analyzed the most likely cause of 687 bovine tuberculosis (bTB) breakdowns detected in Spain between 2009 and 2011 (i.e., 22% of the total number of breakdowns detected during this period). Seven possible causes were considered: i) residual infection; ii) introduction of infected cattle from other herds; iii) sharing of pastures with infected herds; iv) contiguous spread from infected neighbor herds; v) presence of infected goats in the farm; vi) interaction with wildlife reservoirs and vii) contact with an infected human. For each possible cause a decision tree was developed and key questions were included in each of them. Answers to these key questions lead to different events within each decision tree. In order to assess the likelihood of occurrence of the different events a qualitative risk assessment approach was used. For this purpose, an expert opinion workshop was organized and ordinal values, ranging from 0 to 9 (i.e., null to very high likelihood of occurrence) were assigned. The analysis identified residual infection as the most frequent cause of bTB breakdowns (22.3%; 95%CI: 19.4-25.6), followed by interaction with wildlife reservoirs (13.1%; 95%CI: 10.8-15.8). The introduction of infected cattle, sharing of pastures and contiguous spread from infected neighbour herds were also identified as relevant causes. In 41.6% (95%CI: 38.0-45.4) of the breakdowns the origin of infection remained unknown. Veterinary officers conducting bTB breakdown investigations have to state their opinion about the possible cause of each breakdown. Comparison between the results of our analysis and the opinion from veterinary officers revealed a slight concordance. This slight agreement might reflect a lack of harmonized criteria to assess the most likely cause of bTB breakdowns as well as different perceptions about the importance of the possible causes. This is especially relevant in the case of the role of wildlife reservoirs

Percentage of breakdowns with a recorded survey (i.e., coverage) between 2009 and 2011.

<p>Percentage of breakdowns with a recorded survey (i.e., coverage) between 2009 and 2011.</p

Agreement between causes of breakdown determined by our study and those ones identified by official veterinarians in those herds where we both concluded one option.

<p>IC95%: 95% confidence interval for the Kappa statistic.</p

The most likely events within each cause of breakdown (see decision trees in figure S1 in File S1 for further clarifications).

<p>Half values are due to those herds were the difference between the first and the second cause was less than one point. In these breakdowns two possible causes of infection were considered and we assigned 0.5 points to each cause.</p

Most likely causes of bTB breakdowns.

<p>(a) In 185 herds the likelihood of all the causes was below 5 and in 101 there were more than three plausible causes.</p><p>95% CI: 95% confidence interval.</p

Most likely causes of bTB breakdowns by type of herd.

<p><i>* 7 farms not included (other types).</i></p

Introduction of infected cattle from other herds decision tree.

<p>Introduction of infected cattle from other herds decision tree.</p

Distribution of the mean ordinal values associated with the most likely cause for each breakdown: “5-.5.5” corresponds to “Low likelihood of occurrence”; “5.6–6.5” to “Not very high likelihood of occurrence”; “6.6–7.5” to “Quite high likelihood of occurrence”; “7.6–8.5” to “High likelihood of occurrence”, and “8.6–9” to a “Very high likelihood of occurrence”.

<p>Distribution of the mean ordinal values associated with the most likely cause for each breakdown: “5-.5.5” corresponds to “Low likelihood of occurrence”; “5.6–6.5” to “Not very high likelihood of occurrence”; “6.6–7.5” to “Quite high likelihood of occurrence”; “7.6–8.5” to “High likelihood of occurrence”, and “8.6–9” to a “Very high likelihood of occurrence”.</p