Reading the RBCT - post 2

On to page 24, recommendations for cattle controls. The report recommends the parallel use of the IFN gamma test and recommends differentiating in terms of control herds with one or two reactors and no history of infection and herds with multiple reactors and a history of infection. This also chimes with my issue with Defra terminology; describing a herd as TB free when it has had TB in the past is possibly inaccurate and makes identifying the source of infection very confusing for all concerned. The report also suggests culling the whole herd in extreme cases. 

Ha! Recommendation 29: "Surveillance should be heightened by more frequent testing of herds in low risk areas". That goes against what is being proposed for herds in Scotland - that some herds can be exempt from testing completely. Barlow et al. nicely demonstrated that increased testing in low incidence areas was more effective that more testing in the high risk areas. 

Data analysis should be improved and be made systematic so that the impact of control policies can be assessed. Totally agree. 

They discuss Bang’s method of eradication as practised in Denmark: calves were removed from their dams immediately and reared separately; when they calved they were milked and kept as an isolated group. As time went on, and clinical cases were removed, the clean herd eventually replaced the infected herd. It'd be interesting to know if there is any data that went with this approach.