Researchers claim new blood test for bovine tuberculosis developed

A new blood test to detect Mycobacteria in blood has been developed by a team at the University of Nottingham led by Dr Cath Rees, an expert in microbiology in the School of Biosciences, and Dr Ben Swift from the School of Veterinary Medicine and Science.

The researchers have used this new method to show that cattle diagnosed with bovine tuberculosis (bTB) have detectable levels in their blood of the bacterium Mycobacterium bovis (M bovis), which causes bTB.

So far, routine testing for bovine TB uses the Single Intradermal Comparative Cervical Tuberculin (SICCT) skin test. However, it is known that this test is only 90% sensitive at best, and misses many infected animals.