The Ministry for Primary Industries and eradication programme partners DairyNZ and Beef + Lamb NZ are seeking diagnostics research proposals as outlined in the M bovis science plan.
M bovis strategic science advisory group chairman and MPI’s chief science adviser John Roche said the focus is on diagnostic tools that will contribute to national surveillance testing and on enhancing diagnostic test performance at herd level.
The group is also interested in tools that can be used on germplasm.
“We believe that the greatest use of the developed tests will be in the proof of freedom phase and for monitoring and preventing further incursions.
“This is a real opportunity to help accelerate the eradication of M bovis from NZ,” Roche said.
Accelerating the eradication of M bovis from NZ is the main objective of the science plan and only diagnostics research that will contribute towards achieving this will be funded.
“We are looking forward to seeing what researchers and companies will put forward in response.”
A portfolio of different diagnostic projects might be funded with all proposals to be evaluated by a panel that will make recommendations to the M bovis governance board for approval.
The diagnostics request for proposals is open to both national and international tenders.
Roche encourages all those with expertise, including entities with diagnostic tools already in development, to apply.
Applications close on June 19.
The M bovis strategic science advisory group was established in July last year to support prioritisation of science to speed eradication.
The group is tasked with providing high-level recommendations to the M bovis governance board on the requirements for strategic science and plays a key part in ensuring a well-aligned science programme.
The science plan was developed to build on existing knowledge of the bacteria and disease along with knowledge from the dairy and beef sectors and response teams to identify the highest priority science needed to successfully eradicate M bovis.
M bovis was found in NZ in July 2017.
The disease is thought to have arrived in imported semen but the path has not been confirmed.
MPI remains confident eradication is feasible.
It was first detected in America in 1961 then in virtually every cattle farming country since. No other countries have gone for mass slaughter because of lack of investment and lack of knowledge.
International data on the disease’s spread around the world records America as the first to identify M bovis followed by Israel in 1964, Spain in 1967, Australia 1970, France 1974, Czechoslovakia 1975, Germany 1977, Denmark 1981, Switzerland 1983, Morocco 1988, South Korea and Brazil 1989, Chile 2000 and South Africa 2005.
There was a seven-year break before Finland in 2012 followed five years later by NZ in 2017.
Finland is the only country, other than NZ, with a control plan.
While it never imposed compulsory herd culling, a voluntary slaughter scheme was established.
From the four cases identified in 2012 the number of cases grew to 70 in 2017 and it was six years before a significant reduction happened with just 33 M bovis cases recorded in 2018.
NZ’s 10-year compulsory eradication programme has so far slaughtered almost 100,000 cattle.
Confirmed properties to date total 170 with 34 in the North Island and 136 in the South Island with 49 of the 170 remaining active. Another 175 properties are under notice of direction and 487 under active surveillance.
To date 1055 compensation claims have been received with 712 of them completely or partly paid with $69.5 million,of the $84.7m claims assessed.
The programme’s pre-winter tracing surge is complete but MPI said it’s important to know animal tracing activity is ongoing.
“Every time a new confirmed property is found or new information comes to light we will need to contact farmers to discuss risk animal movements and decide what action needs to be taken.
“While there will be fewer farmers being contacted by the programme over the winter there will still be calls being made,” Roche said.
