The Poultry Keeper

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 7370 Location: isle of lewis

Serious Health Alert (27/06/08}
Tuberculosis has been diagnosed in a goat herd in Wales and Ministry vets are urgently trying to trace any other goats which have been in contact with that herd. This is the first major outbreak of TB in goats in this country.

A statement from the owners of the herd follows :

‘Announcement from the herd with suspected TB. We appreciate everyone is concerned about the recent announcement of suspected TB in two Golden Guernsey Herds. We are doing everything we can with Defra, the GGGS and the GVS to get to the bottom of this issue and will share information with you as soon as it becomes available. What we ask of everyone at the moment is to try and stay calm (which we know is extremely difficult). At the very least please refrain from jumping to conclusions or spreading information that is not factual. It is critical that we keep to facts so we can help other goatkeepers who may be at risk.

Current Situation
The source of this outbreak has not been confirmed.
At the moment suspected TB has been found in a Gellisaf goat that died two weeks ago.
Since then the whole herd has been tested and those in the same barn as the goat that died have all shown a positive reaction with the exception of three kids.
The herd is a mixture of Gellisaf and other lines.
Suspected TB has only been found in the lungs not the udder.
Milk has not been pooled to feed the kids. It is suspected but not confirmed that that this has spread either by airborne, nose to nose contact or shared salt licks in the barn.
Only some of the goats affected have a mild cough but otherwise look fit and healthy.
Culling and post mortem is starting tomorrow with six of the herd. Although Defra cannot enforce this on goatkeepers at this stage we have decided to work with them as mentioned above, to collect hrd evidence to share with you, with the hope of preventing this spreading any further than it already has.

Historical Situation
We have lost a few Gellisaf goats of mixed ages over the last few months and we have been working with the vets to understand why.
One milker went for post mortem although she was never tested for TB and another was put down due to vets advice as at the time they suspected pneumonia, now likely to have been TB but not confirmed.
Information from the historic post mortem are now being revisited as part of this investigation.
The vets have been working with us to resolve this problem but no-one ever suspected TB. The most recent verdict from the vets was suspect pasteurellosis and that was only at the beginning of this month which the whole herd was treated against..
No goats have ever been sold or loaned from this farm which is one positive I suppose.
No other lines have ever died on our farm previously to this culling.

Next Steps
As soon as we know more from the post mortem we will let John Aldridge know.
At this time we will also share with you our identity but we are just trying to get through this coming week as well as coming to terms with this devastation in our herd, which like most of your herds all have names and individual personalities that we consider to be part of the family.
We have heard of other herds where vets have diagnosed pneumonia and if you are in this position(whether in the past or now) we urge you to contact John (Aldridge) immediately.
We also urge anyone who has had contact with Gellisaf whether buying, loaning or boarding to contact John.
If you have any questions please field these through John and we will be happy to answer.
If you have any evidence, information ,thoughts or suggestions please continue to share with John as I know he is working with a number of us to find the answers but just be mindful when discussing this issue with other goatkeepers.
We all need to stay focussed and not let this beat us. Keeping this breed alive is what is important to all of us'.

I am sure, all BGS Members will wish to add their support to the need to trace and eradicate all sources of infection and I would like to thank the owners of this affected herd for issuing this very honest statement which is included in full in order to aid understanding.

Advice:
Be vigilant
Report any signs of infection to your vet – particularly chest infections
Co-operate with the authorities in tracing and testing
Ensure movement records are kept up to date
If anyone has had any contact with the infected herds, contact your vet, Defra or John Aldridge
If you have had any contact with an infected herd, isolate your herd and especially, do not attend any animal gatherings
If your Local Animal Health Office is reluctant to test for TB and you have concerns, it is possible to have a private test via your vet.

There is a risk to human health if milk from infected animals is consumed unpasteurised.

Latest information
Post mortem results: 6 pm. 's were carried out. They were 5 adult reactors and one three month old kid non-reactor (whose twin was a reactor). The 5 adults showed TB in lungs, gut, mammary and the kid was clear. However, they are taking an adult non reactor from the herd tomorrow. From that they will make decisions on further action. They are ‘thinking' at the moment that they will initially shut down all GG herds until tracing of movements has been done but as yet it is not definite.
I am sure we all send our support to those who have had the disease confirmed and those who think they may be at risk.
We will try to keep you updated as often as possible.
Thanks to John Aldridge (Chairman GGGS) who alerted me to this problem.
Sue Smith
John Matthews for the advice given here

Charlie Peck, Goat Health & Welfare
taken from (http://www.allgoats.org.uk/Goathealth.htm#Alert)

Sad