Dealing with tB in your herD

Tuberculosis in mammals

14

advice and guidance

Tuberculosis (TB) can affect animals other than cattle. Nearly all warm-blooded mammals are susceptible to the infection including farmed animals, wildlife, pets and humans. Because of this, TB is a notifiable disease in any farmed or pet mammal and any suspicion of disease must be reported to your local Animal Health office.

COVER IMAGE British wild cat (Felis silvestris) Gusto Images/Science Photo Library

What is bovine TB?

Bovine TB is a chronic, mainly respiratory, infectious disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis). Cattle, buffalo and bison are the natural host of M. bovis; in these species and badgers the disease is self-sustaining whereas other mammals are thought to generally act only as spillover hosts. A spillover host is one where the disease can persist in the population for a time but will eventually die out without an external source of infection.
M. bovis and M. tuberculosis belong to a family of bacteria that cause, among other diseases, Jhnes disease in cattle, deer, sheep and goats, avian TB in birds and leprosy in humans.

(including imposition of movement restrictions and a testing strategy), for all livestock on the premises. Any movement restrictions imposed will remain in place until Animal Health is satisfied that all TB-infected animals have been identified and removed. Cattle on neighbouring premises will normally be tested as well.

Cats and dogs

Bovine TB can affect domestic cats and dogs but the incidence is low. They may be exposed to infection from a variety of potentiallyinfected animals including cattle, badgers and other wildlife. Owners can take some precautions against their animal getting bovine TB, for example, by ensuring their cats/dogs do not drink unpasteurised milk and by preventing their cats/dogs from predating on badger carcases.

How is TB identified?
Symptoms of TB, if shown, are difficult to differentiate from other respiratory diseases and it may only be possible to identify TB infection by diagnostic testing or at post-mortem inspection. The law requires that farmed mammals or mammals kept as pets affected with, or suspected of being affected with, tuberculosis are notified to the local Animal Health office. Animal Health will arrange for the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) to do a bacteriological culture of fresh tissue samples from the suspect animal. There will be no charge to the owner or keeper of the animal for doing this.

Deer
Under the Tuberculosis (Deer) Order 1989 (as amended), suspicion of TB in any deer (or their carcases), whether farmed, park or wild, must be notified to your local Animal Health office.

Goats
Like most mammals, goats are susceptible to infection by bovine TB. Unpasteurised milk, or dairy products made with unpasteurised milk, from bovine TB-infected goats can constitute a risk to consumers. As a result, Animal Health will inform the Chief Environmental Health Officer of the relevant Local Authority if dairy goats test positive to the tuberculin test, or if bovine TB infection is confirmed in a herd of dairy goats. Pasteurisation, however, effectively removes the risk of transmission of TB to humans via milk.

What will happen if TB is identified?

If M. bovis is isolated from these samples, Animal Health will inform the local Health Protection Unit so that any risks to human contacts can be investigated. Animal Health will also need to consider the implications, and develop an appropriate control strategy

Goats will be TB tested at the governments expense if the herd or animal is located on premises where TB has been confirmed in cattle, or if bovine TB infection has been confirmed in the goat herd itself. Where bovine TB has not been confirmed on the premises or in the immediate vicinity, an owner can arrange for their own vet to TB test their goats; however, this can only be done if agreed with and approved by Animal Health.

Pigs
Bovine TB is not considered to be particularly contagious amongst pigs or to spread easily from pigs to other animals. Adult and young pigs destined for breeding may be tuberculin tested with the consent of the owner, where bovine TB infection has been confirmed on the premises and pigs have had close contact with cattle or access to pasture.

Such testing may be undertaken by the owners veterinary surgeon at the governments expense. All other tuberculin testing of pigs is to be done privately at the owners expense.

transmission to other animals susceptible to the disease. As with cattle, camelids and goats often show no signs of being infected until the disease has progressed to a considerable extent. In severely affected animals, a chronic cough, which is unresponsive to treatment, may be seen. This may be accompanied by loss of weight and diarrhoea.

Camelids
There is evidence that the disease can spread rapidly within and between camelid herds, therefore causing concern about the

However, it may be that none of these signs are shown, i.e. the animals may remain in good condition despite being infected with TB. If you are unsure of any of the symptoms or concerned about the health of any of your camelid herd, please contact your veterinary surgeon.

Dealing with tB in your herD leaflets are: 1 Bovine tuberculosis (TB): What is it? Why do we test for it? How do we detect it? 2 What happens if bovine tuberculosis (TB) has been detected in your herd? 3 Reactor animals 4 Inconclusive reactors 5 Valuation, slaughter and compensation 6 Movements on and off restricted premises 7 What further testing will be required? 8 Cleansing and disinfection 9 How to reduce the risk of bovine tuberculosis (TB) on your premises 10 Understanding the risk of bovine tuberculosis (TB) to cattle from wildlife 11 How to manage your milk quota 12 Legislation and enforcement of tuberculosis (TB) restrictions 13 Tuberculosis in deer 14 Tuberculosis in mammals 15 Tuberculosis in camelids The Health Protection Agency, in association with Animal Health and others, has produced a leaflet providing information on the human health risks associated with bovine TB: Reducing the risk of human M. bovis infection: information for farmers.

Further information
Contact your local Animal Health office for further practical advice and guidance or visit the Animal Health website: www.defra.gov.uk/animalhealth Since devolution, the responsibility and powers in regard to animal health legislation has meant that there are significant differences in the policies regarding bovine TB in England, Wales and Scotland. The Defra, Scottish Government and Welsh Assembly Government websites providing up-to-date detail on these policies can be accessed from the Animal Health website. If you farm on the border of England and Wales or England and Scotland, you should be aware that the location of your animals at the time of the test would influence which protocols are relevant to you. This leaflet is one of a series about dealing with TB in your herd. The leaflets are structured so that you should clearly be able to find the information you need, depending on the location of your farm.

This leaflet has been produced by animal Health in association with:

HeAd Office:

Animal Health corporate centre, Block c, Government Buildings, Whittington Road, Worcester WR5 2LQ t +44(0)1905 763355 f +1905 768851 e corporate.centre@animalhealth.gsi.gov.uk
ANiMAL HeALTH iS AN eXecUTiVe AGeNcY Of THe dePARTMeNT fOR eNViRONMeNT, fOOd ANd RURAL AffAiRS ANd ALSO WORKS ON BeHALf Of THe ScOTTiSH eXecUTiVe, WeLSH ASSeMBLY GOVeRNMeNT/LLYWOdRAeTH cYNULLiAd cYMRU ANd THe fOOd STANdARdS AGeNcY

www.defra.gov.uk/animalhealth

Publication reference number AHTB0014 Published April 2010