[Sundae]

Originally Posted by DanaC

they suck cows udders? seriously?

Okay, I don't know if that really is the way it's spread, but it is a matter in debate regarding badgers and TB.

From here:

Bovine Tuberculosis (bTB) was a major problem in cattle herds earlier this century but was virtually eradicated by tuberculin testing and slaughter of infected cattle. However, bTB has persisted in southwest England, its traditional stronghold, some parts of Wales and the West Midlands, and is now increasing in other parts of Britain. Since the mid-1970s tens of thousands of badgers have been culled in response to bTB outbreaks because of circumstantial evidence that badgers spread the disease. However bTB has continued to increase in cattle. Bovine TB can be a serious problem for those farmers whose herds are affected. However it is still a relatively rare disease in the UK. To put bTB into context, in 2002 19,792 bTB reactors (cattle that gave a positive tuberculin skin test result) were slaughtered, which compares to 4,189,000 animals (including 590,000 cattle) slaughtered during the FMD outbreak1. In addition, 90,000 cattle are culled annually due to mastitis, 31,000 due to lameness and 125,000 due to infertility2.

In November 1996, the government commissioned a review, chaired by Professor John Krebs, to investigate links between bTB in cattle and badgers. The final report was published on 16 December 1997. It stated that “the sum of evidence strongly supports the view that, in Britain, badgers are a significant source of infection in cattle, although evidence is all indirect” and principally recommended that the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries (now the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)) should set up an experiment to quantify the impact of culling badgers3. In February 1998 the Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB (ISG) was set up by the Government, chaired by Professor John Bourne, to advise on implementation of the recommendations in the Krebs Report, specifically the badger culling trials. On 17 August 1998 the Government published the Bourne Report4 and announced its plans for a strategy to control bTB in cattle.

Sos to be teh serious!!!