TB infection warning for fur pluckers

Possum-fur pluckers are at risk of being infected with tuberculosis, says a contract manager for the Animal Health Board, which plans to investigate the health issue.

The board's contract manager for its Nelson operations, Ron Walker of Southern Pest Management, said possums with advanced bovine TB formed skin lesions containing the disease's bacteria, which could be spread to workers when a mechanical plucker removed the fur.

TB can be passed on by airborne bacteria, affecting the lungs and lymph glands in humans. Bovine TB can be contracted directly from animals, but not passed between people.

Mr Walker said possums taken from bovine TB control zones could also spread the disease. The Nelson-Tasman region is the focus of a $1.5 million TB control programme designed to create 5-7km buffer zones between farmland and forests and cut the rise in the number of infected cattle and deer herds.

New Zealand's TB infection rate in stock has been above international standards for 20 years, putting the country's agricultural exports at risk of non-tariff trade barriers.

"I don't want to be a prophet of doom but I'm concerned about the welfare of those in the industry and the possible spread of TB," Mr Walker said.

Animal Health Board communications manager Nick Hancox said he was concerned about the removal of potentially TB-infected carcasses from operation areas, the risk of infection possum pluckers faced and how the possum bodies were disposed of.

"Unless properly buried, there is a potential risk that the bodies could provide a source of infection to scavenging animals which would spread the disease."

Nelson's biggest possum-fur buyer, Jim Clare, of Aniseed Valley, said contractors acted responsibly.

- NZPA