On Friday the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said it had not been possible to conclusively prove from the postmortem tests that Geronimo did have TB.
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) has been trying to culture bacteria from these lesions but, it has now emerged, has been unable to do this.
Defra argued this did not mean Geronimo was free of disease because he had twice tested positive while alive.
The chief veterinary officer, Christine Middlemiss, said: “This animal tested positive for bovine tuberculosis on two separate occasions using highly specific tests. Due to the complexity of the disease, further testing has not enabled us to use whole genome sequencing to try to understand how the animal became infected in the first place.”
From:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/dec/10/postmortem-tests-on-geronimo-the-alpaca-inconclusive-defra-says