Welfare Reps should pass vital information on, that is the whole purpose of the National Committees. They are not there to censor what information their members receive.
--- On Thu, 13/5/10, Claire Waring
From: Claire Waring
Subject: FW: TB Update As of 1st May 2010
To: "BAS Brian Raine"
Dianne Summers "
Jeremy Holland "
"BAS Rob Bettinson"
Date: Thursday, 13 May, 2010, 20:54
Dear Welfare representatives
Please find attached the latest TB situation report from Di Summers.
Kind regards
Claire
-----Original Message-----
From: Dianne Summers [mailto:summersdianne@yahoo.com]
Sent: 11 May 2010 20:23
To: Dianne Summers
Subject: TB Update As of 1st May 2010
Dear TB Support Group and TB Update Group and B.A.S.
B.C.L.
PLEASE NOTE THIS DATA IS FROM 28 HERDS THAT ARE IN CONTACT WITH THE TB
SUPPORT GROUP. 18 OF WHICH ARE CURRENTLY UNDER RESTRICTION AND A FURTHER 10 NOW OUT OF RESTRICTION.
THERE ARE OTHER HERDS UNDER RESTRICTION THAT ARE NOT IN TOUCH WITH THE TB SUPPORT GROUP. I THEREFORE HAVE NO DATA ON THOSE.
Firstly, I am pleased to announce that my name and the TB Support Group is now added onto the AH/DEFRA letter of consent to test. The letter of consent is the document given to new herds that have the misfortune to come down to TB. A document they must sign when they agree to test. I am thankful to AH/DEFRA for this and proves not only that we are working together but also they recognise the TB Support Group as invaluable help for fellow camelid sufferers. This also puts paid to those that have classed the work I do as being scare mongering and hysteria. DEFRA/AH would hardly contemplate putting my name on such an important document if that was the case.
Up to Dec 31st 2009 those in contact with the TB support group lost 144 alpacas/llamas confirmed TB. This works out roughly 12 a month. From that 144 we had 12 skin test positives 7 of which were from one herd.
In the first 4 months of 2010 From 1st Jan - 30th April 2010 members in contact with the TB support group have lost:
94 alpacas. 9 of which were skin test positives 48 were Rapid/Gamma blood test positives All of which passed the skin test. 37 sudden death or euthanized due to clinical signs
94 losses in 4 months = 23.5 per month so double the quarterly ratio of
last year.
From this 94 only 9 were skin test positives.
Again this is only from data provided from herds in contact with the TB
support group.
We all know the skin test isn't removing infected animals from the herds with the exception of a low number of skin test positives but the blood tests are. This is why the gamma interferon validation project on Tb free areas is vital and a very important update will follow shortly. Watch this space - but we have a lot to thank BAS Mike Birch for - for his constant hard work and the herds who have kindly offered up their alpacas for testing - the alpaca industry have an awful lot to thank you both for. Once/If validated we are well on our way to a reliable ante mortem test but this of course depends on the findings from the trials. Lets all keep our fingers crossed. It is working well on herds with breakdowns but it needs to work well on those not in a breakdown. We all know specificity v sensitivity and the importance of both.
DATA ON BLOOD TESTS
From Nov 2009 - March 31st the Gamma Interferon blood test has been used on 4 herds in the TB Support Group and has picked up 50 TB infected alpacas from 155 alpacas tested in just 4 months on 4 herds.
3 other herds in the TB support group have had both the rapid and gamma blood tests done on their entire herds in May so their data and results are not included in this update. However the Gamma is picking up far more infected animals than the rapid.
Lastly my heartfelt thanks go out to the kind members of the TB Support Group who have kindly submitted their data to me - not only on the numbers lost but also blood test results - side effects – watch group etc. Thanks to them we have this data and thanks to them this data has driven the gamma validation project along. So thanks to them we are hopefully on our way to a reliable ante mortem test.
I hope you found this information useful - please feel free to post this information on your websites or blogs.
Kindest regards
Dianne Summers
Camelid TB Support Group
01209 822422
07949511316
Posts
Hi to all who follow this blog, my first post on here. I think it is good that the bloggers are bringing TB to our attention.
ReplyDeleteI refer to the letter sent out to the BAS regional groups above. We are not members of a BAS Regional Group. That is our choice not to be members (we have our reasons), but as we have chosen not to be a members of SWAG (our local regional group) the SWAG Regional Organiser was hardly likely to pass this information on to us.
The BAS should be responsible for informing it's members of such information. Not passing the buck to Regional Groups.
I am personally disappointed in the BAS, their welfare committee seems woefully incapable of forwarding such important facts to it's membership. In fact I would go as far as to say, if the BAS welfare committee had done it's job properly, there would be no need for this blog to exist.
We would like to pass on our best wishes and support to all those poor breeders who have been so badly affected by this horrible disease. We wish you all the best possible luck in eradicating bTB from your herds.
Rob Rawlins
Wellground Alpaca Stud
What do you think "the BAS" is? The BAS has no staff, and is run by a voluntary committee. The involvement of regional groups such as ours is supposed to be a two way street to get information to the membership and concerns back to the board. If you don't get involved and help you are just as much a part of the problem. There is information on the BAS website and in the BAS magazine, not to mention the roadshows earlier this year. If it makes you feel better to blame the BAS fair enough - it would be better to do something constructive to help though.
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