Badgers Responsible For Half Of Tuberculosis Found In Cattle

[NiceFarmer31]

How many badgers are infected, will enough badgers be culled and is it all worth it? Here is a guide to the recent badger cull

Most badgers aren't infected, is that correct?

The largest study of bovine tuberculosis (TB) in badgers was the randomised badger culling trial, RBCT, which reported in 2007. Nearly 8,900 badgers were culled across large (100 km sq) areas where there was high risk of cattle TB. Their carcasses were subjected to detailed examination and testing, although the standard postmortems missed half of the infections compared with extended postmortems. Overall, 16.6% of the badgers culled between 1998 and 2005 were found to be positive, based on the standard postmortem, indicating that about 33% were actually infected. But this percentage varied geographically and by year in the trial.

Do cattle really catch TB from badgers?

Most badgers are not infected, but those that are can transmit infection to cattle. Using a mathematical model and data from the start of the trial, I estimated that confirmed cattle TB rates would be halved if there were no transmission from badgers (meaning neither direct badger-to-cattle transmission nor onward cattle-to-cattle transmission of those primary infections). But this estimate is quite uncertain. Even without using the model, it is clear that in an 18-month period after widespread culling stopped in the trial, cattle TB in the culling area was reduced by roughly half. This estimate was more precise, being almost certainly between 38% and 66%. Thus, it is very likely that at least 38% of the confirmed cattle TB in trial areas stemmed from badger-to-cattle transmission, with half being the best estimate.
- See more at: http://gardenreboot.blogspot.com/2013/10/badgers-responsible-for-half-of.html

 

[dun]

I'll have to make sure my cows are vaccinated before I send them to London for vacation

 

[TexasBred]

We don't have badgers. Wonder where the occasional TB case comes from?

 

[sim.-ang.king]

But badgers are cute, and cuddly!


Real cuddly as a fur coat.

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

I'll have to make sure my cows are vaccinated before I send them to London for vacation

Can you send me with them???
:lol2: :lol2: :nod: :nod: :lol:

 

[regolith]

We don't have badgers. Wonder where the occasional TB case comes from?

Plenty of other vectors that can carry it. In NZ the emphasis is on opossum control, though wild deer can also be infected... not to mention other cattle.

It's a long time since I've been savvy with UK farming, but back in around 1994 I heard a vet say "the government had it's hands burned on TB" as the measures they'd put in place to control it were ineffective, making them unwilling to attempt further action. What has happened since I don't know.
Whereas NZ *has* had effective measures (albeit unpopular owing to the widespread use of poison) to control non-bovine vectors of the disease and has reduced incidence to very low levels.
A recent cluster of cases in TB-free districts has been traced back to cattle movements between herds. As a sharemilker I've been somewhat involved in trading cattle enough to know just how far they can go, last year I was getting phone calls from agents wanting to "fill a truckload" for the South Island. This serves as a warning that having gotten control, there's no relaxing - TB hasn't been eliminated yet, and won't be until it's also eliminated in the wild-life population.