New figures raise tuberculosis fears
06 July 1999
New figures raise tuberculosis fears
By FWi staff
GOVERNMENT figures released yesterday (Monday) have increased fears that tuberculosis in cattle is out of control.
There were 740 new confirmed incidents of bovine TB in British cattle herds last year, according to figures unveiled by junior agriculture minister Jeff Rooker.
The number of new outbreaks more than doubled in some counties, with TB spreading to some areas free from the disease for decades.
In Cornwall, one of the “hot-spot” areas for bovine TB, the number of new cases soared to 139 from 74 the previous year.
The increase in outbreaks was similar in Gloucestershire where farmers suffered 132 outbreaks compared with 85 the year before.
In Hereford and Worcester, there were 116 new incidents compared with 86 in 1997.
In Avon, the number of new cases rose from 10 to 25, in Devon they rose from 82 to 99, and in Staffordshire from 24 to 30.
The figures are likely to be seized on by farmers and animal conservationists who claim that a government badger cull aimed at controlling the disease is not working.
The Krebs trial, which began last year, involves the culling of at least 12,000 badgers in an effort to prove conclusively whether the animals transmit TB to cattle.
Many farmers fear they will be bankrupted by TB before the Krebs trial is completed in five or six years time.
Meanwhile, conservationists argue that the badger is being made a scapegoat for intensive agricultural practices which lead to weakened immune systems in cattle.
Whatever the answer, everyone agrees that the counties once free from the disease but now affected show how rapidly TB is spreading.
Those counties include Hertfordshire (1 incident), Lancashire (3), Leicestershire (1), Lincolnshire (1), Northumberland (2), Nottinghamshire (1) and Oxfordshire (4).
Perhaps surprisingly, given that the area is primarily arable rather than livestock-based, the East Anglian county of Suffolk also suffered one TB outbreak.
But the disease has also spread to the mixed-farming and dairy counties of Warwickshire (1 outbreak), the West Midlands (1), Cheshire (2), Cumbria (1), and West Yorkshire .
In Wales, the only county now free from TB is Clywd, following fresh incidents in Gwynedd (1), and South Glamorgan (1).
The number of outbreaks in Dyfed jumped from 24 to 53, although in Gwent they fell from 33 to 25.
Farmers in Scotland remain the least likely to be affected by the disease, and the whole country recorded only four incidents, compared with 10 in 1997.
Other areas also showed a reduction in new TB cases, however.
There were five outbreaks in Shropshire last year compared with seven the year before.
In Dorset, the number of cases dropped from 12 to 8, in East Sussex from 4 to 1, and in Essex from 1 to 0.
- TB threat to north-west dairy farms, FWi, 17 March, 1999
- Farmers propose hot-spot badger cull, FWi, 10 March, 1999
- Government plans radical action on TB, FWi, 29 January, 1999
- Fears grow over TB-free status of Scots cattle, FWi, 25 June, 1998
- TB threatens West Midlands dairy farmers, FWi, 01 December, 1997