Progress with Bovine Tuberculosis eradication (January 2024)

A modest decline in herd infections in England

Photo by Jenny Hill on Unsplash

Data for 2023 demonstrates a welcome, but modest overall decline in herd infections in England, compared with a slight increase in herd infections in Wales. The local picture varies enormously across the different parts of each country, with disease persistently endemic in some areas and completely absent from others. Scotland remains TB free, but is suffering a small but increasing number of detected infections arising from cattle bought in from infected farms elsewhere. Tens of thousands of cattle continue to be slaughtered each year, having been disclosed as Reactor animals at routine testing. Routine surveillance testing remains the key means of finding infection in cattle. Spread of infection and susceptibility to it is highly complex with apparent significant variation in how they play out according to local geographies and farm management practices.

Bovine TB is an environmental bacterium which opportunistically infects cattle, badgers and other wildlife species. The original reason for attempting to control it over 100 years ago was that it was shown to be responsible for approximately 5% of human TB cases at the time (before the routine pasteurisation of milk for drinking). This was nearly achieved by the mid-1970s but subsequent changes in eradication policy and agricultural practice have seen the disease explode almost out of control in the 50 years since. UK governments remain committed to the eradication of this disease in farmed animals but the feasibility of this seems questionable in the face of public sensitivities around the control of the principal wildlife reservoir, combined with the general lack of meaningful incentive for farmers to invest money, time and effort in the prevention measures necessary to fully control this disease once it has become established in the local environment.

Points for prayer

1. The cleansing of our land. Where there is a spiritual dimension to this enduring malaise, that local communities would own the problem, turn and pray for the healing of their land.

2. Wisdom for governments in re-evaluating their policies to set realistic and affordable goals with a more positive impact on farming businesses – within the constraints of disease control expectations set by international trade rules.

3. Positive progress on the long-awaited licensing of effective and affordable vaccines for cattle – this is much closer than it was 10 years ago.

4. Healing of the relationship between the rural agricultural community and those with an urban psychology who are unsympathetic to the devastating effect of the impact of current TB controls on affected livestock businesses – that all may work together for a positive outcome.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and are not necessarily shared by other members of the Hope Countryside team.