In a shocking report, it has been claimed that some 33% of bovine TB (bTB) cases in England and Wales remain unidentified. It is due to the ineffectiveness of the TB skin test which is being conducted on cattle suffering with the liver fluke Fasciola hepatica.

For the research, milk from 3,026 dairy herds across England and Wales was examined for hepatica, and it was concluded that there was a ‘significant negative association’ between exposure to the parasite and identification of bTB. The team is of the view that this is due to the fact that the liver fluke was covering the symptoms instead of blocking the disease spread.

It is believed that the results ‘may in part explain the continuing spread of bTB and the failure of the current eradication programme in the UK’. With the report hitting the contours of the society, calls are being made to DEFRA to review the results.

It was further told that in case cattle are treated with flukicidal drugs before being tested, there are chances that more and more number of cases would be able to identify. There is need to understand that one and all that the current methods are not effective enough to deal with the problem and a lot more needs to be done to control fluke.