Rate of TB continues to rise in early 2020

THE incidence of Bovine TB has continued to rise in Ireland through the first three months of the year and while the Galway rate is below the national average, some worrying pockets of infection are occurring in the county.

Last week, the Dept. of Agriculture released the latest figures for Bovine TB incidence rates across the country for the first three months of this year – up from 2.64% (for the same period last year) to 3.26% from January to March, 2020.

During the first three months of this year, nearly 2,300 herds in Galway – out of a total of over 10,800 – were tested for TB with a TB herd incidence rate of 2.66%.

As of the end of March, 2020, there were 128 restricted herds in Galway with a total of 282 reactors. Of that 128 restricted herds, 61 of those had been newly restricted since January 1 last.

A chunk of North-East Galway as well as a pocket of South Galway close to the Clare border in the Kinvara-Gort area are among the main ‘problem areas’ in the county with between 31 and 50 new herd restrictions within the first quarter of this year.

There is also a particularly bad pocket for TB in the North-West Clare area – between 51 and 128 new restrictions for the first quarter of the year.

According to the Dept. of Agriculture, the overall national increase from 2.64% to 3.26% for the first quarter of this year, continues the trend of recent years of a gradual increase.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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