The presence of beaver in a catchment has negligible impact on human health, and the risk of disease that could be transferred to livestock is regarded as insignificant.
Any beaver being reintroduced into the UK would have to undergo a quarantine process involving thorough veterinary examination, removing any danger of importing health risks.
There is no evidence that beaver carry bovine tuberculosis.
Diseases sometimes thought to be associated with beaver are reviewed below:
| Giardia lamblia: |
this unicellular protozoan gut parasite found in mammals, is already present in Britain, and can be carried by almost all mammals. It can be removed from water by normal filtration methods. In Norway, populated by 75,000 beaver, much of the rural population drinks from untreated streams, and the only giardia outbreak in recent years was in Bergen - a beaver free area.
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| Leptospirosis: |
bacterium Leptospira. Beaver, along with water voles and other rodents, can carry this disease. But it is already present in British waterways and their presence within an ecosystem would not increase the risk to humans or livestock of contracting the disease.
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| Cryptosporidium: |
this parasite does form robust occysts resistant to chemical treatment, but it is already present in Britain, with livestock acting as vectors.
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| Tularaemia: |
bacterium Francisella tularaemis. Vectors include rodents. Transmitted by infected air and water, this occurs in Europe but it is not presently found in the UK and could in any event be detected and treated in quarantine.
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| Yesinia: |
this bacterium causing pseudo TB does already occur in the UK and is not considered an issue for people or livestock. |
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