BCG has been used experimentally for vaccination
of cattle against BTB since 1912, including in the UK in the first
half of the 20th century [4,5]. As in humans, BCG confers partial
protection against BTB in cattle [6] and therefore, there is a need for better vaccines. It is possible to carry out vaccination and challenge experiments in cattle to determine whether a given vaccine
or vaccination regimen confers protection against BTB. However,
these experiments require the use of large animal biosafety level
3 (BSL3) facilities which are expensive to maintain and are often
oversubscribed. Ideally, cheaper and faster gating criteria should
be available to support the decision making process of whether a
vaccine should be tested in cattle for protective efficacy in such
vaccination and challenge experiments. This would considerably
accelerate vaccine development