June 1, 2022

 

New Zealand close to eradicating cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis

 

 

New Zealand is close to eradicating the cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis from its herd of 10 million cattle, after a four-year effort that cost hundreds of millions of dollars and killed over 175,000 cows in the country, Associated Press reported.

 

Damien O'Connor, New Zealand's Agriculture Minister said that Mycoplasma bovis has been eradicated from 271 farms, leaving just one farm in the country with the disease. New Zealand would be the first country to entirely eradicate the disease.

 

O'Connor said the campaign had been distressing for the farmers involved. If the disease was detected on a farm, even healthy cows were culled to ensure the disease was eradicated.

 

Agriculture is the country's largest export earner and an important part of its economy. When Mycoplasma bovis was first found in New Zealand in 2017, the government launched a massive response, concluding that there was a one-time opportunity to eradicate the illness before it spread extensively.

 

Mycoplasma bovis is a bactera found in cattle in the US and Europe that can cause mastitis, pneumonia, arthritis, and other illnesses in cows. Although the bacteria does not pose a risk to human health, the ailments it causes in cattle can be distressing and result in reduced milk and meat outputs.

 

O'Connor said the last farm infected with the disease was a feed yard where cattle were fattened before slaughter. He predicted that the farm will be free of the disease later this year, but that success would require many months of monitoring across the country.

 

He said that the total cost of the eradication campaign will be slightly less than the anticipated NZD 886 million (~US$580 million; NZD 1 = US$0.64), with funds channelled into operations, surveillance, and compensation. The government is footing the majority of the bill, with farmers and the livestock sector pitching in as well.

 

The disease's origins are unknown in New Zealand, which has rigorous biosecurity restrictions. It might have come in through imported bull sperm, according to one theory.

 

Fiona Doolan-Noble, a senior research fellow at the University of Otago who studied the eradication programme, said government authorities should have done a better job listening to local veterinarians and farmers at beginning, but that communication has improved over time.

 

She said there was a potential the disease may return to New Zealand, but the country's experience with both the disease and COVID-19 had shown the need for stricter biosecurity measures.

 

New Zealand's overall herd is double the size of its human population, with 6.3 million dairy cows and 4 million beef cattle. Milk products account for the majority of the country's exports, with much of it exported to China for use in baby formula.

 

-      Associated Press