TB alert - Newbury vet praised

Public Health England (PHE) and the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA) has announced that two people in Berkshire and Hampshire developed tuberculosis (TB) after being infected by domestic cats which had Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis).
The agencies made the announcement that nine cases of M. bovis infection in domestic cats in Berkshire and Hampshire were investigated by AHVLA and PHE during 2013.
PHE offered TB screening to 39 people identified as having had contact with the infected cats as a precautionary measure.
24 contacts accepted screening.
Following further investigations, a total of two cases of active TB and two cases of latent TB were identified. Latent TB means they had been exposed to TB at some point but they did not have active disease.
Both cases of active TB disease confirmed infection with M. bovis and are responding to treatment.
There have been no further cases of TB in cats reported in Berkshire or Hampshire since March 2013.
Head of gastrointestinal, emerging and zoonotic diseases department at PHE, Dr Dilys Morgan, said: “It’s important to remember that this was a very unusual cluster of TB in domestic cats.
“M. bovis is still uncommon in cats - it mainly affects livestock animals.
“These are the first documented cases of cat-to-human transmission, and so although PHE has assessed the risk of people catching this infection from infected cats as being very low, we are recommending that household and close contacts of cats with confirmed M. bovis infection should be assessed and receive public health advice.”
In response Newbury MP, Richard Benyon, said: “Although there have been no further cases of TB in cats reported in Berkshire or Hampshire since March 2013, we have always known that bTB is a Zoonosis (a disease that can be transmitted to humans from animals) and so the Government’s wide ranging strategy to eliminate bTB across England has to be the right approach.
“Particular credit should go to Carl Gorman, the vet who initially raised concerns about the cats, it makes you wonder how much more of this disease is evident in pets across the country.”
For more, see next week’s Newbury Weekly News.