The information requested by the Deputy is provided below.
County
|
Year
|
No. Samples
|
No. Positives
|
% Positive
|
Roscommon
|
2017
|
153
|
87
|
56.86
|
|
2018
|
156
|
80
|
51.28
|
Galway
|
2017
|
252
|
115
|
45.63
|
|
2018
|
198
|
99
|
50.00
|
Abattoir surveillance is an important aspect of the TB Programme. All healthy TB-clear animals that are slaughtered in Ireland are examined for evidence of TB infection at post mortem. If an abscess-like lesion is suspected of being TB, it is sent for analysis in the laboratory. Nationally, in 2017, 3,564 animals were a suspect slaughterhouse case of which 1,603 were confirmed as TB (45%).
When a herd is confirmed as having had TB, it must undergo 2 clear TB tests, at 60 day intervals, as per EU directive 64/432. The first TB test following a confirmed slaughterhouse case is 11 times more likely to have reactors than the annual round test and it had a positive rate of approximately 14.5% in 2017 and 2018.