TUBERCULOSIS IN DEER

The existence of a reservoir of M. bovis infection in wild deer has been recognized for many years, although the prevalence of infection has never been high. During the last 3 years, 65 tuberculous deer have been reported throughout New Zealand. This information, which came from game-packing houses and field sources, was equivalent to a rate of 2.7 cases per 10 000 deer processed for export. The comparable rate in cattle for the same period was 21.3 per 10 000 cattle slaughtered. With the extremely rapid development of a deer farming industry, it was hardly surprising that infection would eventually be detected in farmed deer, as it was in August, 1978. Within 3 months 8 further clinical cases had been detected on 5 other farms. One of the most severe cases later proved to be an infection with Mycobacterium avium. Scientific literature has little to offer on the tuberculin testing of deer and, therefore, experimental testing was undertaken by Ministry veterinarians using a variety of techniques. As a result of these activities, there shall soon be sufficient information and resources to allow the design of a soundly based control programme.