NEWS

Vet president heartened over lower TB incidence
By Chris McCullough

DELEGATES attending the British Veterinary Association (BVA) dinner in Stormont heard how president Professor Bill Reilly was heartened to hear how TB cases around the Province were decreasing.
However, the president did cautiously add that although this seemed to be the case there still were no areas in Northern Ireland that were completely free of this disease.
Speaking about diseases in general Professor Reilly was encouraged by his first annual dinner in a devolved administration and said he looked forward to forthcoming results from the Northern Ireland study on the prevalence of TB in badgers.
During his speech Professor Reilly said: "For a UK-wide organisation like the BVA, it is vital to have a handle on what is happening in all four corners of the country and to facilitate the necessary information sharing amongst the profession.
"In policy terms, perhaps the most obvious example of the impact of devolution is bovine TB. As you know this is an issue that affects the four nations of the UK in different ways.
"Earlier this year we were pleased to see the endorsement of Scotland's application for Officially Tuberculosis Free-status but urged vets and farmers to keep up stringent disease controls.
"In Wales the Minister recently announced steps to move forward with a targeted badger cull in the west of the country – a move welcomed by the BVA. In England, we recently supported the TB Eradication Group’s acknowledgement that there is no one measure, no silver bullet, that can address the problem."


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November 6th 2009
October 30th 2009