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Department of Agriculture figures for the first quarter of the year show a “marked increase” in the national herd incidence for TB, which rose from a rate of 2.64% to 3.26%.
“This means that from 1 January to 29 March 2020, 3.26% (853) of 26,164 herds tested for TB have had at least one animal test positive (an increase of about 23%),” the Department said.
There was also a 49% increase in the number of TB reactors identified through a combination of skin testing and gamma inferno blood testing, with a total of 4,276 reactors in quarter one this year. The Department said that all stakeholders were concerned and senior officials were reviewing national and regional trends in order to determine influencing factors.
They said there were a number of reasons for the rise in TB incidences but stated that the expansion of the dairy herd since 2015 had “played a role”.
“Since dairy herds, larger herds, and herds which introduce more cattle are all more at risk of TB breakdowns. Fifty-two per cent of all TB reactors in 2019 were in dairy herds, while there were approximately 2.8m farm-to-farm cattle movements last year,” the Department said.
Contact tracing
They made a parallel between TB and COVID-19 principles in battling disease control, including restricting movements, maintaining separation, contact tracing and disinfecting to avoid infection spreading.
Areas with persistent infection issues, such as Clare, Wicklow, Cavan and Monaghan still continue to have problems. Cavan and Monaghan are still particularly badly affected and this is thought to be linked to their proximity to the border, with Northern Ireland facing significant TB issues.
A targeted impact TB plan is in place in these areas and the Department has unrolled a badger vaccination programme in many parts of the country.
NI study finds 14% of badgers have TB
The project also highlights “insufficiencies” with the TB test for cattle.
New research has found that 14% of badgers in a bovine TB hotspot area in Co Down tested positive for the disease.
Results from the Test and Vaccinate or Remove (TVR) project show that 63 out of 456 badgers that were tested over a two-year period returned a positive result.
The project also highlights issues with TB testing for cattle.
Interpretation of both the gamma interfer-on and bacteria culture tests are described as “a relative gold standard” test, but the researchers acknowledge that “insufficiencies” remain.
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