Dr Gina Bromage MA,Vet MB,DVM,MRVCS.      

Camelid TB Support & Research Group

Mike Birch                             

Dianne Summers Summers.

Help and Support for those affected by Bovine TB in Alpacas & Llamas

Contact:

Email: Support@alpacatb.org   

01209 822422  Mob 07949 511396                                

Thanks to over 30 members of the TB Support Group who have given their data and experiences of bTB in their herds. It is from the information gathered from the data provided by these members that has produced much of the advice contained on this website. Thank you. Also thanks to senior members of DEFRA/AH/and the VLA for working closely with the TB Support group. It is a relationship very much appreciated by  us all.

Welcome to the TB in Alpacas & Llamas Website

The purpose of this website is two-fold. First and most importantly it is to provide detailed help, information and advice to those who suffer a bTB breakdown in their herd. We hope it will give you enough information to help you through the sometimes traumatic experience that lies ahead. You will be faced with difficult decisions and we hope this website will help you.

Secondly it is to educate all camelid owners about bTB with the hope that the advice given will greatly reduce the risk of it happening to you.

It is difficult putting a website together that serves both purposes, and no doubt it won’t please everyone - but sometimes the truth isn’t what we want to hear. Finding the right balance is difficult. The last thing we want to achieve is having herds that have been, or are under, restriction being treated like the plague (we already suffer enough without that) but at the same time the facts about TB in camelids need to be publicised so everyone can make their own decisions and ask the right questions.

The TB situation in Camelids over the past few years has increased dramatically and is now listed by the VLA (Veterinary Laboratories Agency) on their “Veterinary information sheet - aide memoir for the diagnosis of common disease syndromes” in Camelids (you can see VLA document here)

TB has affected herds of all sizes, from large commercial breeders to those who keep them as much loved pets - TB does not discriminate. (See here)

Camelid Herds have been infected with TB by local wildlife, by purchased stock, by agisted mating, by short and long term agistment and movements.

Camelids are susceptible to bTB and it kills them - in some cases quickly, and in others in a slow and insidious way. Camelids can appear healthy and yet be heavily infected with TB and highly infectious.

Initial detection of bTB in a herd is reliant on responsible owners having a Post mortem examination following a death (a full post mortem at the VLA costs £90.60), or a vet informing Animal Health if they suspect that a sick camelid may have TB. Not all owners carry out PMs on their losses and not all vets except BVCS (British camelid Vet Soc) are aware of TB in camelids, therefore TB is going undetected and can be (and has been) sold on.

Some herds have been placed under restriction not because they themselves have had a PM on a loss, but because a camelid that they had sold had gone on to die. The new owners had a PM and TB was traced back to the originating breeder.

Bovine Tuberculosis can affect you anywhere in the UK, but your herd is at an increased risk if you are situated in, or have contact with herds in, an endemic bTB area as indicated by the red areas on the DEFRA parish testing map.

The advice and information on this website is given in good faith. It is essential that you consult your Vet and/or AHO before making any decisions on diagnosis or treatment of your animals.  We make every effort to keep official documentation up to date but where guidance is given on official policies, please bear in mind they may have changed so you MUST check and confirm current policy and procedures with DEFRA/AH. Advice and updates will be posted as and when information becomes available to us.

Unique visitors

Currently On site

As from Jan 2011

Do you live in a high risk area? Click here

At the end of the 4th quarter of  2012 the number of  alpaca and llama herds that have had confirmed m.bovis tb in England and Wales is:  

See here for table provided by Defra.

This does not include newly restricted herds under suspicion awaiting  culture confirmation.

Data kindly provided quarterly by DEFRA

Cattle Parish testing interval map from Defra  July 2011.

Bovine TB is a zoonotic disease transmissible to humans. See here