In August 2009 it was widely reported that a member of staff at the infamous Woodchester Park government run centre researching the cattle/badger TB link may have contracted bovine TB. Staff there have been working closely with badgers for some 30 years. As a result all 30 or so staff working at the centre were screened for TB. Surprise, surprise, NO infection by human or bovine was identified for the staff member originally suspected as being infected, although it was apparently a Mycobacterium infection. This person is now well and back at work. Out of all the other members of staff tested only one was apparently found to have a latent infection but it was not known if this had been due to human or bovine TB. They too are at work and fit and well. If this had been a bovine animal it would have been killed. It was stressed that the risk of humans being infected with bovine TB is low. Most cases that do arise are usually attributable to infection picked up abroad or reactivation of infection in older people who contracted the infection before the introduction of milk pasteurisation.
