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BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS, BOVINE - NEW ZEALAND
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A ProMED-mail post
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International Society for Infectious Diseases
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Date: 9 Jul 2009
Source: Northern Advocate [edited]
<http://www.northernadvocate.co.nz/local/news/disease-scare-for-dairy-industry/3901123/>
Disease scare for dairy industry
--------------------------------
Northland's dairy herds could be at risk for
bovine tuberculosis. Northland's
multi-million-dollar dairy industry is on alert
after bovine tuberculosis (TB) was found in a
large dairy herd. The disease was discovered in
Kaitaia in one cow during regular 3-year herd
testing for tuberculosis, carried out by Animal
Health Board (AHB) contractor AssureQuality.
The infected animal -- believed to be the first
Northland-bred cow found with the disease -- has
been slaughtered. [Hopefully the affected carcass
was not put into the human food chain - Mod.TG]
Restrictions have been placed on the movement of animals on and off the farm.
The find has alarmed the dairy industry. Export
markets require TB-free products and the disease
casts a shadow over New Zealand's "clean green"
image. Northland is classified by the board as a
TB surveillance area with a low disease risk.
Removal of the region's present TB-free status
could mean permits would be required to move
stock. It could also result in reluctant buyers
(which hinders sales), more animal testing and
extra costs for farmers. No restrictions have
been imposed on milk supplied by the Kaitaia farm.
Pasteurisation removes the risk of humans getting
tuberculosis through consuming milk from an
infected cow. [When raw milk is consumed, the
risk of TB in humans increases. And this article
points out that the it can pop up at any time,
even when animals are being tested. Mod.TG]
Northland TBfree committee chairman Neil
MacMillan, of Okaihau, said the AHB spent NZD 52
million [USD 32 635 200.00] annually in a bid for
New Zealand to match the TB-free status of most
of its major international trading partners. He
expected the AHB to bring the Kaitaia herd
outbreak under control fairly quickly, but
predicted that if the disease got established in
possums and other wildlife in forests near
Kaitaia it would cost millions of dollars to eradicate.
Another Northland TB free committee member and
operations director for Farmers of New Zealand,
Bill Guest, said the TB outbreak was "a big
wake-up call" for Northland farmers producing 26
percent of the nation's beef and 10 percent of
its milk. "Whatever it takes, whatever it costs
to deal with this, it must be done ruthlessly if
necessary." Farmers had to be vigilant to keep
infected animals out of the North, Mr Guest said,
warning that complacency crept in when the threat was removed.
AHB regional co-ordinator Frank Pavitt, of
Hamilton, said stopping the spread of infection
to wildlife had top priority. Checks on wild pigs
shot in the area indicated there was no evidence
of bovine tuberculosis infection in surrounding
wildlife. He expected possums and ferrets in the
area to be surveyed to establish they did not
have the disease. Rats are not involved in
transmitting tuberculosis. Mr Pavitt urged
hunters to take samples and contact the AHB if
they came across any feral animals with
pus-filled lesions or other signs of sickness.
A Northland deer herd was "depopulated" when an
animal was identified with tuberculosis about 5
years ago and the last case of tuberculosis
infection of cattle in the region was in 2001.
Mr Pavitt said 4 AHB officials working on the
Kaitaia infection "couldn't put a finger" on the
cause of the cow's disease. They were retesting
the herd and investigating the movement of cattle
to and from the farm. [This movement into the
farm is sometimes called trace-ins while movement
outside of the farm is called trace-outs, because
they are trying to trace the movements. - Mod.TG]
"There may be another animal in the herd which
caused the breakdown," he said. The herd
contained animals not from "secure" sources and
the infection could have come from "anywhere in
the Waikato, Bay of Plenty or central North
Island." Mr Pavitt said the farmer involved had
"done nothing wrong." He and his neighbours --
whose animals showed no sign of infection -- had
co-operated with measures to isolate the outbreak, Mr Pavitt said.
[Byline: Mike Barrington]
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-Mail Rapporteur Susan Baekeland
[TB is difficult to detect and grows so slowly
that it seems to burst upon the scene as a
positive test. It is of course distressing to the
animal owners, but they are not at fault for the
disease. The signs of bovine tuberculosis usually
take months to develop in cattle. Infections can
also remain dormant for years and reactivate
during periods of stress or in old age.
As the article points out, continued vigilance
against the disease is always necessary. Testing
the animals and being cautious of where animals
come from help prevent the disease from becoming established in a herd.
The AHB worries about possums while those in the
UK worry about badgers. Reservoirs of the disease
make it difficult to eradicate. And wildlife
reservoirs bring a more difficult dimension to the problem.
In brush-tailed opossums, bovine tuberculosis is
usually a fulminating pulmonary disease that
typically lasts 2 to 6 months. In the final stage
of the disease, animals become disoriented,
cannot climb, and may be seen wandering about in
daylight. In contrast, most infected badgers have
no visible lesions and can survive for many
years. In symptomatic badgers, bovine
tuberculosis is primarily a respiratory disease.
Portions of this comment have been extracted from
<http://www.cfsph.iastate.edu/Factsheets/pdfs/bovine_tuberculosis.pdf>
Mod.TG]
[see also:
Bovine tuberculosis - UK (04): badger vaccination 20090707.2443
Bovine tuberculosis - USA (08): (IN) cervid, bovine 20090628.2343
Bovine tuberculosis - USA (07): (MN) cervid 20090625.2307
Bovine tuberculosis - USA (06) (NE) (02) 20090620.2270
Bovine tuberculosis - USA (05): (NE) 20090613.2198
Bovine tuberculosis - USA (04): (TX) conf. 20090613.2195
Bovine tuberculosis - USA (03): (NE) cattle, elk 20090603.2060
Tuberculosis, elephants - Nepal 20090517.1844
Bovine tuberculosis - USA (02): (ND) 20090514.1811
Bovine tuberculosis - UK (03): increased incidence 20090514.1809
Bovine tuberculosis - USA: (TX), susp 20090423.1536
Tuberculosis, captive wildlife - USA: (NE) 20090414.1423
Tuberculosis, hospital exposures - USA: (IL) susp. 20090412.1398
Bovine tuberculosis - UK, New Zealand: vaccination 20090325.1160
Bovine tuberculosis - UK (02): (Wales) 20090323.1143
Tuberculosis, bovine - UK: (02) 20090320.1121
Tuberculosis, bovine - UK: (Wales) 20090107.0066]
....................tg/ejp/dk
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