AQW 25087/17-22

Mr John Blair
Alliance Party
South Antrim

Tabled Date: 02/11/2021
Answered On Date: 16/11/2021
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs for his assessment of the potential merit of improving testing regimes for cattle as part of the bTB eradication strategy.

Answer:

Each cattle herd in Northern Ireland is subject to annual testing for bovine Tuberculosis (bTB). Herds where disease has been confirmed, or is suspected, and herds with a higher risk of exposure to disease including herds adjacent to TB breakdown herds are required to test more frequently. In 2020/21, over 3.1 million tuberculin skin tests were carried out on just over 1.72 million individual bovines in Northern Ireland.

As part of the proposed bTB Eradication Strategy for Northern Ireland, my Department intends to increase the use of Interferon Gamma (IFNG) blood test within herds that are experiencing bTB breakdowns. Currently my Department conducts around 23,000 IFNG tests each year and it is proposed to increase this to 45,000 over the next three years. The IFNG test is an important tool which is used to supplement the skin test in cattle within bTB breakdown herds. The IFNG test can detect, at an earlier stage of infection, infected animals which may have tested negative to the tuberculin skin test.

Currently the tuberculin skin test and the IFNG test are the only two approved tests that can be used as official bTB tests within the NI bTB programme, however, my officials also continue to monitor the development of alternative tests which might become available to use within the programme in the future.