Just how bad is the TB problem in UK Cattle?

Dr James Irvine

FRSE, DSc, FRCP(Ed), FRCPath, FInstBiol

Editor: www.land-care.org.uk
Director: Teviot Scientific Consultancy, Edinburgh
Director: Teviot Agriculture, Cultybraggan Farm, Comrie by Crieff, Perthshire

(Filed 25th Feb 2003)

There is widespread concern that the incidence of bovine tuberculosis in UK cattle is escalating and that Government control initiatives have not been working efficiently to stem it.

A conflict of interest between conservation and farm livestock animal health is apparent over the role of badgers in spreading TB to cattle.

The Government through what was then MAFF set up an independent review team under the chairmanship of Professor John Krebs. This group produced what is referred to as the Krebs Review in 1997 (1). Following the recommendations of the Krebs Review, the Government set up the Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB.

Land-Care will be running a series of articles looking into how it is that UK agriculture has got yet another livestock disease crisis on its hands.

In this article, the first of the series, the Government’s figures published by DEFRA on its website are presented in succinct form so as to illustrate the problem objectively and with maximum clarity.

Table 1: TB incidents in Great Britain - Animals, 1996-2002.

(Source: DEFRA, The incidence of TB in cattle - Great Britain, 25 February 2003, 2).

Table 1 shows the rising number of incidents of proven TB during the years 1996 to 2000, the number more than doubling during that period (from 3,752 to 8,353 compulsorily slaughtered). While the figures for 2001 and 2002 are affected by the FMD crisis, nevertheless the provisional figures show a staggering total of 6,250 + 20,914 compulsorily slaughtered for the period January 2001 to November 2002 giving a total of 27,164 and an average of 13,582 for each year).

The breakdown of the figures for each month in 2002 is given in Table 2.

Table 2: TB incidents in Great Britain - Animals, 2002

(Source: DEFRA, The incidence of TB in cattle - Great Britain, 25 February 2003, 2).

Land-Care tried to obtain from DEFRA a map showing the geographical distribution of TB in UK cattle in 2002, but none was available even in the broadest terms. This is not helpful when a farmer is considering restocking or otherwise seeking replacements for his herd, or indeed setting up a new herd.

Clearly there is a very major problem with tuberculosis in the UK. Also clearly, the Government strategy to control it, set up by Professor Krebs and his committee in 1997 (1), has not been effective - indeed it would appear to have been disastrous.

The present series of articles on Land-Care will endeavour to find out why.

The next article will look into what the “Independent Scientific Group on cattle TB” is and what it has been doing.

References

1. DEFRA - TB in Cattle - The Krebs Review:
www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/tb/abouttb/atbkrebs.shtml

2. DEFRA - Tuberculosis Statistics:
www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/tb/stats/stats.shtml

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25 February 2003