Active Surveillance

Surveillance Testing Programme

6. The additional measures which apply in the Edge Area are summarised below:

  • Surveillance:
    • increased test sensitivity by using six monthly or annual testing
    • 3km radial testing, around Officially Tuberculosis Free Status Withdrawn (OTFW) breakdowns in annual testing regions of the Edge Area
  • Management of new breakdowns to increased test sensitivity:
    • Officially Tuberculosis Free Status Suspended (OTFS) breakdowns to clear two short interval tests (SITs) at severe interpretation before restrictions can be lifted
    • Compulsory parallel g-IFN tests in OTFW breakdowns
  • Detailed epidemiological investigation and analysis
  • Preventative measures:
    • removal of Cattle Tracing System links between High Risk and Edge Areas
    • promotion of Risk Based Trading
    • badger vaccination and biosecurity
    • support for vet-farmer meetings and local boards
    • TB awareness events
    • information sharing - publicising six monthly reports locally
  • Periodic Reporting:
    • prepare and submit to TB Programme, six monthly epidemiological reports on progress
    • information sharing - publicising reports locally

7. The Approach to Setting Routine Surveillance TB Testing Intervals in England (TR277) provide more information.

Surveillance Strategy

1. Each country within GB administer a targeted surveillance strategy using agreed testing protocols appropriate to the prevailing disease situation.

2. A variety of different tuberculin test types are used to deploy the surveillance strategy on herds and individual animals. The tuberculin test types and VetNet codes table (TR15(E/S/W)) sets out:

  • all the possible types of tuberculin test
  • the corresponding Sam purpose/VetNet code
  • the reason and circumstances in which each purpose should be used
  • the classes of stock to be tested at each test type
  • whether zero tolerance applies
  • whether an automated Test Notification Letter (TNL) is generated.

Notifications of Routine Surveillance Testing