About the Authors

Ian J. Links

Contributed equally to this work with: Ian J. Links, Laurence J. Denholm, Marilyn Evers

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

ijlinks48@gmail.com

Affiliation Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation (An alliance of Charles Sturt University and NSW Department of Primary Industries), Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia

Laurence J. Denholm

Contributed equally to this work with: Ian J. Links, Laurence J. Denholm, Marilyn Evers

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Validation, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Strategy and Delivery Group, NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet, Orange, New South Wales, Australia

Marilyn Evers

Contributed equally to this work with: Ian J. Links, Laurence J. Denholm, Marilyn Evers

Roles Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Visualization

Affiliation Formerly NSW Department of Primary Industries, Orange, New South Wales, Australia

Lloyd J. Kingham

Roles Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation NSW Department of Primary Industries, Orange, New South Wales, Australia

Robert J. Greenstein

Roles Formal analysis, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation James J. Peters VAMC, Bronx, New York, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors have read the journal’s policy, and the authors of the manuscript have the following competing interests to declare: CSL Limited and Pfizer Animal Health provided material support in the form of vaccine supplies; sales data: and strong promotion of safe vaccination procedures. The following three relevant patents have been issued to RG: US Patent # 7,846,420: Issue Date Dec 7, 2010. Mycobacterium Avium Subspecies Paratuberculosis Vaccines and Methods for Using the Same. US Continuation-in-part Application entitled “Combination Vaccines Against Mycobacterium Species and Methods of Using Same.” Serial #12/956,064 Filing Date; November 30, 2010. Issued: June 18, 2013. US Patent # 7,902,350: Issue Date March 8, 2011. Method for Monitoring the Efficacy of a Mycobacterium Avium Subspecies Paratuberculosis Therapy. US Patent # 8,507,251: Issue Date August 13, 2013 “Medium and Method for Culturing Mycobacterium Avium Subspecies Paratuberculosis” Serial No: 12/892,039 Filing Date September 28, 2010. This does not alter any of our adherence to all the PLoS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. There are no other patents, products in development or marketed products associated with this research to declare. IL, LD, ME, and LK have no competing interests to declare.