Bovine TB in Wales - scale of the problem

In the first half of the twentieth century, bovine TB resulted in many people becoming ill and dying in Britain. This was stopped after the introduction of compulsory pasteurisation of milk and tuberculin testing of cattle in the 1950s. By the 1970s, bovine TB in cattle fell to a low incidence.

In 1985 there were no new TB breakdowns in Wales but since the early 1990s it has increased again. In 2000 there were 264 breakdowns. There was a dramatic increase following the 2001 Foot and Mouth Disease epidemic when routine testing was stopped for most of the year.

The first Welsh region to suffer a rise in TB was south east Wales, especially Monmouthshire. South West Wales, in particular Pembrokeshire, closely followed this rise and overtook South East Wales in the early 2000s. In mid Wales, especially Western Powys, TB did not start seriously increasing until 2000. There has so far not been much bovine TB in North Wales but it started to increase in 2007, largely in the North West. Annual herd and animal incidence peaked in 2008 then fell in 2009.

One of the TB Eradication Programme’s first major initiatives was to establish TB Health Check Wales. A test of all cattle herds in Wales over a 15 month period to provide a more accurate picture of the disease.

We know from TB Health Check Wales that the incidence of disease varies quite significantly across Wales and within regions. For example, the incidence of TB in North West Wales is low, whereas some areas of South West Wales have the highest incidence of TB in Europe. It should be recognised that even in areas of high TB incidence the majority of herds are not infected and every effort must be made to protect them from infection.

Since January 2010 all cattle herds in Wales have been on annual testing. The increased testing means that the number of undisclosed TB breakdowns is likely to be relatively small.