The Journal
Bovine TB Scare
By Anna Lognonne
2001.07.19

A
nimals at a North farm have been slaughtered amid fears that Bovine TB could pose a new disease menace to the region's cattle.

Defra yesterday revealed that the disease had been confirmed in the Hexham area, after cattle at two farms, which both belong to the same farmer, reacted positively to routine skin tests.

The infected cattle at one of the farms have been slaughtered and test results are awaited on the second batch. All the remaining cattle will be routinely tested to see if the infection has spread.

Defra did not name the farmer concerned.

Bovine TB is normally found in the South West, Wales, and the West Midlands, and a National Farmers Union veterinary officer was surprised to hear it had spread so far North.

Peter Rudman, from the NFU, said: "Bovine TB has been on the increase for the past five or six years but we didn't think it had reached the North East so I'm very concerned to find how it got there.

"The most likely cause is through animal movements. I don't think it would be evident in the wildlife population, although bovine TB can infect badgers and deer."

His colleague Brian Jennings added: "Very often we find isolated cases that crop up as a result of animal movements from one farm to another.

"Also there has been no TB testing done since February because of the foot and mouth outbreak so it could have been lying undetected for some time.

"Any case of Bovine TB is of concern to the farmer himself and his neighbours but hopefully Defra will deal with the outbreak promptly and contain it."

Once Bovine TB has been confirmed at a farm severe restrictions are placed on the premises, which are not lifted until all tests for the virus prove negative.

Sometimes these restrictions are removed within months but they can last for years if the infection slowly spreads through the herd.

Bovine TB is not the same as human TB and pasteurised milk and meat from infected animals is safe to consume. But it can have a devastating economic effect.

It can also become endemic in badger and deer populations, causing suffering to these animals.

Bovine TB was suspected at the Stocksfield farm of Michael Richardson nearly 10 years ago but it turned out to be a false alarm.

He said: "We had about half a dozen animals that reacted to the routine TB test so we had to isolate them from the herd and retest them about 28 days later.

"It turned out to be a false alarm but at the time it created difficulties. The animals had to be housed away from the rest of the herd and milked after all the other cows had left the parlour."

Under EU rules all cattle have to be tested for Bovine TB every four years, and more regularly in hotspot areas. Because of these strict rules full-blown cases of Bovine TB, which can cause a lot of suffering to the animals infected, are very rare.

The Government has ordered further research in the growing Bovine TB problem and the Krebs trials have been launched to discover the best way to tackle the problem.

Part of this research has been to find out if and to what extent badgers spread bovine TB, and subsequent culling policies have provoked an outcry amongst some wildlife groups.

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