The disease was detected by the slaughterhouse which had received the infected cow and which is carrying out “systematic tests”announced the prefecture in a press release dated Tuesday, September 17, 2024. The farm from which it came, located in the canton of Descartes, was declared “infected focus of bovine tuberculosis”.
“A meeting was organized between the breeder, the professional health organizations and the departmental directorate for the protection of populations to define the measures to be put in place to clean up the outbreak and stop the spread of the disease”specifies the prefectural services.
A selective cull should follow, after analyses are carried out on the herd. “Biosecurity measures” will also be implemented.
In parallel, “an epidemiological investigation is being conducted” in order to determine “the route of introduction of the disease into the livestock as well as the farms possibly linked to this case.”
A disease transmissible to humans
Several breeding basins in Gironde and Europe have already been declared infected by bovine tuberculosis, a disease that can be transmitted to humans. Therefore, preventive measures have been put in place, which include “monitoring in breeding, at the slaughterhouse and heat treatment of milk”. Indre-et-Loire has been spared until now.
About a hundred cases each year
Bovine tuberculosis is transmitted through the air by the bacterium Mycobacterium bovis, which affects all species, including humans. It is also very present in wildlife, transmitted by foxes and badgers. In France, around a hundred cases are detected each year.
