Mycoplasma bovis programme director Simon Andrew has an unenviable task, especially as a new strain of the disease popped up on a Mid Canterbury farm last week.
But there is no doubting that Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) has M. bovis on the ropes, with only four infections left in the country. That’s out of the original 40. We are mopping up the last pockets, Andrew said.
He talked to the Ashburton Guardian about where the eradication programme was at.

What is your reaction to concerns that MPI is not on top of M.bovis, especially the new strain?
The evidence suggests that the new strain is confined to one property. More broadly we undertake a significant amount of surveillance in Mid Canterbury that indicates that we are homing in on the final pockets.

Are there lots of strains of M. bovis overseas?
Yes there are. There is a catalogue of different strains.

What are you doing about the new strain? Do you have to do something different with this one?
No, it behaves in the same way. Essentially it is a different strain that is found overseas. It has a different genetic footprint.
Do you have any idea where this strain has come from?
We continue to investigate this. There are a number of different pathways associated with it. They are all very low risk. But it doesn’t affect our trajectory as far as our eradication efforts.

Would it have come from overseas?
We worked that through and it seems that yes it has. The exact pathway is we need to undertake more investigation. Possibly we will never understand this. But we are continuing with our testing and tracing – which has enabled us to get to where we are today which is four confirmed properties, whereas previously we had close to 40 properties.
If it were to come in from overseas would it be through frozen semen?
There are a number of different ways. You have embryo transfer, there is farm equipment and machinery, and feed. But it is very important to point out that it is very low risk. But nothing can be no risk, which is why we have a surveillance mechanism that can quickly identify this. And we continue to reduce this risk, for example this year putting in place new import health standards for frozen semen.

What would you say to Mid Canterbury dairy farmers as far as being about to contain M.bovis? Are you confident?
Yes, we are. Alongside our programme partners, it is really important that we continue to engage with the local community. And in terms of dairy farms we test every one on a fortnightly basis. So that gives us a high degree of confidence.
Do you have confidence you will get rid of M. bovis in Mid Canterbury?
Evidence suggests we are on track to get rid of M. bovis nationwide. But we must remain vigilant. We are only four years into a ten-year eradication journey. The next period of time we are calling the delimiting phase and we are hunting down the final pockets of infection. Evidence suggests we are making really good progress with this. And then we will go through a proof of absence phase where we continue to do the testing to build a case that we have eradicated it.

• By Pat Deavoll