TB control in the UK and New Zealand

TB control is in the news because of Geronimo the alpaca. There are so many angles to this story. These include social ones, such as whether it is right to cull an animal without clinical disease because it poses a risk to human health (alpacas have spread bovine TB to humans) — but why focus on an imported animal that had no emotional connection to its owner before its import, when 1000s of cattle are slaughtered every year under the same regulations, many of which had cherished connections with their owners, and scientific ones, such as what is the best test for TB (in cattle or alpacas). I find it supremely ironic that this alpaca has been found to be positive using a blood test that is not allowed to be used for routine TB diagnosis on UK cattle farms.

Despite the English government's stated aim of being TB free by 2038 (and the Welsh government aiming to be free around the same time) there is limited evidence that current control programmes are actually effective. Since 1996 the number of new herd incidents has increased from >2 to >10 incidents per 100 herd years at risk, while over 30 000 cattle have been slaughtered because of bovine TB every year since 2008 (equivalent to ~0.3% of all cattle every year. This has resulting in a huge bill for compensation, the equivalent of over £10 million every year. The government websites make the claim that cases have plateaued and control is imminent., but the current cost is unsustainable.