Wildlife tuberculosis in Southeast Asia: a less known potential hot-spots and issues in disease surveillance and management

Wildlife tuberculosis is a threat to the domestic livestock, other wildlife species and human, which may cause an impact to economy, wildlife conservation and serious public health issues. Increasing trend in detection of wildlife tuberculosis reservoir has hindered the progress of controlling this disease. South East Asia is known for her biodiversity hot spots in the world, with high species richness including abundance potential wildlife tuberculosis reservoirs such as wild boar and multi species of deer. Furthermore, one-third of the world’s human tuberculosis is found in the South East Asia. With very little information of livestock and wildlife tuberculosis and potential hot-spot region, attention should be given by the researcher, policy makers and various stakeholders to assess the disease threat and the impact on tuberculosis control in livestock in South East Asia. South East Asia countries also face issues and limitation in conducting tuberculosis surveillance and detection. Such limitations may be overcome by collaboration and networking with expertises under One Health alliance by outsourcing the capabilities of funding, human and laboratory resources and knowledge. This paper gives an overview of potential wildlife tuberculosis occurrence in South East Asia due to her wildlife biodiversity which could potentially act as a reservoir for domestic livestock at the wildlife interface, and discuss the challenges and benefits that could arise from the global experience and resources.

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