Scientists try oral human TB vaccine on possums

The human version of the tuberculosis vaccine is being given to possums in a trial to see if it can cut back the level of bovine tuberculosis in cattle.

Scientists from Landcare Research and AgResearch said they had given an oral version of the human vaccination to possums in Orongorongo Valley north of Wellington.

The latest issue of AgResearch's magazine Intouch said the scientists hoped to develop another weapon in the war against bovine tuberculosis, one of the country's most serious animal health problems.

The programme could slow the spread of the disease from wild to domestic animals.

Dr Bryce Buddle, an AgResearch tuberculosis expert, said that without infected possums and wild deer, bovine tuberculosis would have been eradicated years ago. He said that in the past 10 years a programme of culling possums, the testing and slaughter of infected cattle, and movement controls had reduced TB-infected herds 86 per cent.

But the areas where TB was found in possums was gradually increasing and now constituted 40 per cent of the country.

"We need to get rid of infection from possum populations."

Dr Buddle said the combination of possum vaccination and culling could have a much better chance of eradicating TB than culling alone.

The magazine said laboratory trials with the human vaccination gave possums significant protection against TB.

- NZPA