Video: ‘More frequent testing needed to wipe out bovine TB’

New research shows that more frequent testing of cattle may be needed to defeat bovine TB in England.

A study by scientists from Queen Mary University in London showed the more rigorous TB testing regimes employed by the governments in Wales and Scotland, work better than England’s.

Researchers found that more frequent testing and the Scottish programme of “risk-based testing” led to a reduction of TB in cattle.

See also: New test can identify TB in badger droppings

However, the most rapid decline in infections was recorded in Wales, where some herds are tested every six months.

In England, herds in low-risk areas are tested every four years, but in high-risk areas, such as the the South West, they are tested annually.

The team says the long interval between testing in England as well as the unreliability of the TB blood test gives infected cattle more opportunity to infect other herd members.

One of the researchers, Matthew Evans, said: “It is clear that testing cattle frequently is the most effective way of reducing bovine TB,

“Farmers and policymakers should not ignore this evidence, which is based on the government’s data.”

“It is clear that testing cattle frequently is the most effective way of reducing bovine TB”
Matthew Evans, Queen Mary University

The researchers also found increases in new incidents in the winter months when cattle are more likely to be housed together.

The research, based on comparing government statistics on bovine TB, claims that reducing badger numbers in England is “making very little difference” to the spread of disease.

Anti-cull campaigners have seized on the study as further evidence that culling does not work.

Alastair Macmillan, veterinary adviser at the Humane Society International UK, said: “This new paper provides extremely strong evidence of what many experts in veterinary disease control have known for many years – that it is crucial to test cattle as frequently as possible in order to control bovine TB.

“The Queen Mary researchers have shown without doubt that killing badgers will have little effect, whilst employing the policies of Wales and Scotland, where badgers are not culled, will continue to have a dramatic impact on reducing TB in cattle.”

The findings were released just days after Defra confirmed the pilot badger culls had started in England for a third year, as part of a 25-year government TB eradication programme.

Defra and the NFU have insisted that no country has successfully tackled TB in cattle without tackling the disease in wildlife.