b'Is Factory Farming making us sick?efforts to control the disease. By 2020, thesymptoms whether it is caused by M. bovis government finally announced it wouldor the human pathogen M. tuberculosis: a phase out the badger cull in favour of apersistent cough, coughing up blood, lack vaccination programme 26 . of appetite and weight loss, night sweats and fatigue. It can be fatal if left untreated 30 .Bovine TB still infects people. It can be passed in droplets coughed and sneezedTreatmentby animals, through drinking unpasteurisedA long course of antibiotics is usually milk or through handling infected meat.sufficient to treat TB in people although, Currently, less than one per cent ofin rare cases, the disease can be fatal, even confirmed cases of TB in humans tested arewith treatment 31 . due to infection with M. bovis 27 . Similarly, cows can be treated but the cost Symptoms in animals of treatment and the fact that raw milk can Lesions are common in the lungs, andonly be exported if it comes from a TB-free these can cause a hard, dry short cough,herd makes treatment uneconomic for which leads to more frequent coughing andfarmers. laboured, painful breathing. The animalsGovernment policy, therefore, has been to lose condition, later cough up blood andcontrol bTB within an affected herd through suffer from diarrhoea. Lesions can alsotesting and slaughter, and to kill badgers. In develop in their udders with hard lumps2020, the focus shifted with ministers stating appearing 28 . However, due to the slowthat they would support work to improve progression of infection and the early agethe accuracy of the tests, and to develop a at which cows are slaughtered, the clinicaldeployable cow vaccine. They also stated signs of bTB are now rarely seen in cows inthey would support calls by scientists to Britain. Bovine TB is rarely fatal, althoughbetter manage the movement of cows 32 .government policy is to kill any cow found to test positive for the disease, and thoseHowever, the underlying causes of bovine in close proximity to her. More than 44,000TB, and numerous other diseases that kill cows were slaughtered in England in 2018vastly greater numbers of cows every year, due to bovine TB 29 .are the intensive and stressful conditions to which the animals are subjected.Symptoms in peopleTB in humans produces the same 9'