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Brucellosis in Cattle in Cornwall, March 2004
Dr James Irvine
Teviot Scientific, Cultybraggan Farm, Comrie
, Perthshire
Filed 27 Mar 04
©www.land-care.org.uk
An outbreak of brucellosis was confirmed by DEFRA
on March 18 in a 35-cow beef suckler herd on a farm in south-east
Cornwall (1).
Great Britain has official brucella-free status.
The last reported cases were in England in 1993 and in Scotland
last year (2, 3,
4 5). The two cases
in Scotland were linked with imported consignments from the Republic
of Ireland. The cases in England in 1993 were linked to importation
from France (5).
There is increasing concern over the health status
of the UK's farm livestock. It is therefore important to review
just how effective current disease control measures are.
With regard to the recent outbreak of brucellosis
on the farm in Cornwall, the whole herd of 129 cattle were culled.
The herd had been under movement restrictions since preliminary
investigations into unexplained abortions had suggested the possibility
of brucellosis. By Friday 26 March all but one of the neighbouring
farms placed under restriction had their movement restrictions lifted,
according to the news release on DEFRA's website (1).
On the remaining premises on 26 March there were still outstanding
results awaited, but are expected by Monday 29th March - which makes
11 days after confirmation of the outbreak.
The source of this most recent outbreak of bovine
brucellosis in the UK has not yet been established according to
the DEFRA news release of 26th March. Central to tracing a possible
source would be the analysis of cattle movements in the area. In
the light of all the documentation UK farmers are required to do
through the British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) it does seem
extraordinary that a more definitive statement about the possible
importation of the disease from outwith the farm could not be made
within 8 days.
The statement is made on the DEFRA website on
26th March that:
"Investigations into the source of the outbreak including
tracings of imports of foreign livestock into Devon and Cornwall
over the past three years are continuing"
But is it not the function of the BCMS with all
its associated bureaucracy and regulations to facilitate such tracing
and to ensure it can be done promptly and effectively when called
upon to do so? Ireland has long been recognised as a source of brucellosis
yet importation of live cattle from Ireland into the UK continues.
Now it appears that the tracings of such imports is apparently a
time consuming process, whereas many of us would have assumed that
such information would have been readily available on the BCMS database.
A further worry must be the reliability of the
screening tests for brucellosis that are believed to be in place
for the importation of cattle into the UK. Again to quote from the
DEFRA news release of 26th March:
"All blood samples related to suspect animals/herds or traced
animals/herds are subject to subject to three sequential tests
which take a minimum of 48 hours to complete; in addition tests
may sometimes need to be repeated, resulting in test results being
delayed"
While brucellosis is not such a catastrophic disease
as Foot and Mouth, nevertheless it is a very serious one. If rapid
and accurate tracing of cattle and if rapid and accurate diagnostic
tests are not available there must be real worries about the control
of either of these diseases. Although the source of infection was
not yet been established in this most recent UK case, the question
needs to be asked again as to why importation of live cattle into
the UK from countries that are not recognised to be brucellosis-free
is allowed to continue? Does the desire for free trade within the
EU take precedence over livestock health?
Commenting on the Scottish outbreak in 2003 Sandy
Clark, Scottish chairman of the British Veterinary Association,
said that imports of livestock from countries such as the Republic
of Ireland, from where the cattle came, should be brought to a halt
immediately (3).
"It may be against European Union policy to put up the shutters
but we are now importing a disease which had been eradicated in
this country.
"Farmers should have more common sense than bring disease
into this country. Ireland is not able to control either tuberculosis
or brucellosis and yet we are buying their cattle when they will
not buy ours."
Veterinary Tina Vernon has written an informative
article for Land-Care on brucellosis (6).
In it she refers to the difficulties in being sure that imported
cattle are not carrying brucellosis in a dormant form. An important
part of surveillance is the recommendation that the first calving
of imported cattle should be notified to the State Veterinary Service
within the first working day after calving, so that the dam can
be checked for brucellosis (7).
In the UK there are mandatory tests carried out
regularly by the State Veterinary Service on all farms carrying
cattle. But one of the most effective safeguards against a herd
acquiring diseases such as brucellosis, tuberculosis, foot and mouth
as well as a number of other important diseases is to run a "closed"
herd whereby no replacement cattle are brought in. My own farm at
Cultybraggan has done this for over 4 years, but it involves greater
expense and to date there is no government incentive to do so. Indeed
with the CAP Reform proposals now taking shape there will be little
incentive to establish or indeed maintain closed herds. It would
appear that suckler herds on areas of land categorised as less favoured
in terms of land quality (that is most of the land in Scotland)
are likely to be economically disadvantaged to a serious extent,
making disease control all the more difficult.
A good account of how brucellosis may affect animals
and especially humans is given on USA Centre for Disease Control
Website (8).
James Irvine
©www.land-care.org.uk
References
1. DEFRA (2004). News release.
Brucellosis (Brucella Abortus) in the UK
www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/notifiable/disease/brucellosis-qanda.htm
2. Editorial (2003). Bovine Brucellosis
in Angus, Scotland confirmed 20th February 2003.
See BRUCELLOSIS Homepage, filed 21 Feb 03, www.land-care.org.uk
Click
Here to View
3. Arbuckle, Andrew (2003). Action
Demanded as Brucellosis Found in Angus.
Article in Dundee Courier reproduced with kind permission
See BRUCELLOSIS Homepage, filed 21 Feb 03, www.land-care.org.uk
Click
Here to View
4. DEFRA (2003). News Release:
20/02/03. Cull of Livestock in the light of brucellosis cases in
Scotland.
See BRUCELLOSIS Homepage, filed 21 Feb 03, www.land-care.org.uk
Click Here to View
5. Scottish Executive (2003).
Press Release: 20/02/03. Bovine brucellosis cases confirmed.
See BRUCELLOSIS Homepage, filed 21 Feb 03, www.land-care.org.uk
Click Here to View
6. Vernon, Tina (2003). Update
on UK outbreak of brucellosis Scotland 2003.
See BRUCELLOSIS Homepage, filed 24 Feb 03, www.land-care.org.uk
Click Here to View
7. DEFRA (2003). Brucellosis:
A reminder for all cattle farmers.
See BRUCELLOSIS Homepage, filed 24 Feb 03, www.land-care.org.uk
Click Here to View
8. Brucellosis Information from
the Centers for Disease Control (USA)
See BRUCELLOSIS Homepage, filed 21 Feb 03, www.land-care.org.uk
Click Here to View
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