British Cattle Veterinary Association

For many years the tuberculin skin test has been the only cattle diagnostic test available for control and eradication of bovine tuberculosis (bTB). In recent years the EU has approved the use of a bTB blood test, the interferon-gamma (IFNg) assay. Following knowledge and experience gained through strategic R&D and field trials, DARD resourced the deployment of large scale bTB IFNg testing in 2005. Since then the IFNg test was strategically applied to problem bTB herds, in parallel with the comparative tuberculin skin test. Use of the IFNg test indicated that in these problem herds the tuberculin skin test failed to detect 41% of animals with confirmed bTB disease, thereby potentially leaving a significant bTB disease burden on-farm.