Published Date: 2002-12-08 23:50:00
Subject: PRO/AH> Tuberculosis, cervids - New Zealand
Archive Number: 20021208.6015

TUBERCULOSIS, CERVIDS - NEW ZEALAND
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Date: 6 Dec 2002
From: "Pablo Nart" <p.nart@virgin.net>
Source New Zeland Herald, 6 December 2002
<http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?thesection=news&thesubsection=&storyID=3008015>

First TB in deer for 14 years confirmed
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Authorities have moved to reassure Bay of Plenty farmers after confirmation
that deer near Tauranga were infected with bovine tuberculosis. It is 14
years since the last outbreak in the region, at Te Puna, and also involving
deer. The latest infection was found in 4 out of a herd of 120 deer from an
Omanawa Rd farm in the lower Kaimai ranges, about 25 km from Tauranga.
Routine tests picked up TB when the herd was sent to the slaughterhouse.
The rest of the animals were clear. "It is nothing like foot and mouth in
England. We do not have any major concerns at all," AgriQuality
veterinarian Keith Paterson said yesterday.
However, cattle and deer near the Omanawa farm were being tested for TB as
a safeguard. A planned possum control operation affecting 80 rural
properties over 1280 hectare (ha) in the lower Kaimais was "purely a
precautionary measure", he said. The district has a mix of lifestyle
blocks, orchards, conservation and forestry holdings, and sheep, dairy and
deer farms. The diseased deer were bought several months ago from a Taupo
source which had been TB-free for 10 years. Four or 5 animals in the Taupo
herd were also found to be infected and were killed.
Wildlife was the likely source of contamination and a rigorous control
program had been carried out on possums and ferrets in the area, Mr
Paterson said. He did not believe there was any evidence bovine TB had
spread beyond the one 18 ha Omanawa property in the Western Bay of Plenty.
Despite the setback, the region officially retained its bovine TB-free
status, said Environment BOP pest control and vector manager, David Moore.
There was "absolutely no evidence at all" so far of any cross-infection
from the 4 diseased deer. Mr Moore said the regional council would
advertise for tenders next week for an intensive possum control operation,
which would start in late January or early February. Eradication could
involve poisoning, shooting, and trapping.
Nick Hancox, a spokesman for the Animal Health Board which is responsible
for bovine TB control in New Zealand, said measures were a routine
safeguard whenever there was confirmation of bovine TB.
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[Bovine tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious zoonotic disease caused by
_Mycobacterium bovis_. In bovines, it is usually characterized by formation
of nodular granulomas known as tubercles. Although commonly defined as a
chronic debilitating disease, bovine TB can occasionally assume an acute,
rapidly progressive course. Any body tissue can be affected, but lesions
are most frequently observed in the lymph nodes, lungs, intestines, liver,
spleen, pleura, and peritoneum.
_M. bovis_ has been identified in humans in most countries where isolates
of mycobacteria from human patients have been fully typed. The incidence of
pulmonary TB caused by _M. bovis_ is higher in farm and slaughterhouse
workers than in urban inhabitants. One of the results of bovine TB
eradication programs has been a reduction in disease and death from TB
among the human population. Pasteurization of milk and improved sanitation
have also been of great importance.
Cattle are considered to be the true hosts of _M. bovis_, but the disease
has been reported in several other species of domestic and wild animals.
Isolations have been made from buffalo, bison, sheep, goats, equines,
camels, pigs, deer, antelopes, dogs, cats, foxes, mink, badgers, ferrets,
rats, primates, llamas, kudus, elands, tapirs, elks, elephants, sitatungas
[wild bovines], oryxes, addaxes [these last 2 are antelopes], rhinoceroses,
possums, ground squirrels, otters, seals, hares, moles, raccoons, coyotes,
and several predatory felines including lions, tigers, leopards, and lynx.
The rigorous application of tuberculin testing and culling of reactor
cattle has eliminated _M. bovis_ infection from farmed bovine populations
of some countries, but this strategy has not been universally successful.
Extensive investigations of sporadic _M. bovis_ recurrence have shown that
wildlife reservoirs exist in some countries. - Mod.TG]
......................tg/sh
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