Assessment of the degree of concordance between the results of histopathological examination and bacterial culture in the diagnosis of bovine tuberculosis in Mexico

Bovine tuberculosis is a complex disease that is difficult to diagnose, control and eradicate and negatively impacts many farms. The objective of this study was to assess the degree of concordance between the results of histopathological examination and bacterial culture in the diagnosis of bovine tuberculosis lesions obtained in the laboratories certified by the Secretaria de Agricultura, Ganaderia, Desarrollo Rural, Pesca y Alimentacion (Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Production, Rural Development, Fisheries and Feeding) at the national level between January 2009 and December 2012 in Mexico. Tissue samples (10,818) from regular slaughter cattle that did not have tuberculin tests but had lesions suspected of having been caused by tuberculosis were sent to 10 authorized laboratories. Using Cohen’s kappa to measure the reliability of the diagnosis, a general concordance was obtained between the histopathological examination and bacterial culture results with a kappa of 0.634 and a 95% (0.618 – 0.650) confidence interval (CI), which shows good concordance between the two techniques at the national level. The laboratory in Chihuahua had the highest kappa [k=0.784, 95% CI (0.754–0.814)] and the laboratory of the La Laguna Region in the state of Coahuila had a low value of global concordance [k= 0.334, 95% CI (0.257–0.412)]. The number of positive samples in bacterial culture was low in Tamaulipas (21 samples), Sonora (41 samples), and Yucatan (45 samples) because tuberculosis prevalence in those states is ≤ 0.04%. The reason for the disagreement between the two tests among some laboratories includes factors such as a lack of economic resources, infrastructure or personnel training. Correct sampling procedures, storage facilities, and shipping and sample processes are important in optimizing the bacteriological and histopathological results and obtaining correct diagnoses and differential diagnoses of bovine tuberculosis