Tuberculosis in Ambridge

Latest News: three of Oliver Sterling's cows have tested positive for TB. While his milk can still be sold on the local mik round (as pasteurisation renders the milk safe to drink), his cheese making business is under threat, as it uses unpasteurised milk as its raw ingredient.

Archive: In 2003 David Archer's cows tested positive for Bovine Tuberculosis, M.Bovis - the third experience of TB at Brookfield in the last 15 years. Read about Brookfield's experience here.

Q: As an Archers fan, I followed with interest the story of David Archer's cows which have tested positive for TB. How might this affect the residents of Brookfield Farm and Ambridge?

A: Although of great economic concern to farmers, the risk to the human population is actually very small as infected cattle are detected and removed early. However, about 40 cases of human tuberculosis caused by M. bovis do still occur in England and Wales each year, the great majority in older people. These are not new infections but are due to reactivation of dormant infection acquired several decades earlier, probably from drinking unpasteurised milk. It is also possible that some cases may have occurred in people working closely with infected animals, so it is theoretically possible that David and his family, and anyone who works closely with the cows could be at risk..

Because bovine TB can be transmitted to humans, its current rise is leading to considerable extra workload for TB nurses in rural areas as they have to check the humans who have been in contact with infected cattle. Vets would be required to notify their local Health Protection Agency who would ensure that tests were carried out. We can only presume that they all tested negative or we would have heard about it!

Human to human spread of this disease is exceedingly rare. Tuberculosis of bovine origin is therefore a very small part of the overall tuberculosis problem but, as with all infectious diseases, continued vigilance is essential.

Written by Melanie Matthews, the resident TB Alert Archers fan. TB Alert would like to thank the editor of "The Archers" for permission to include information about the programme on our website.