Bovine TB incidence rate across Britain fell slightly last year, according to figures released on Wednesday by Defra.

Monthly figures from the recently formed Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) show that TB incidence between January and November 2014 was 4.2 percent, compared to 4.6 percent for the same period in 2013.

Defra cautioned that “care needs to be taken not to read too much into short term figures” and the figures published this week could still be subject to changes as more results become available. However, the figures do suggest the continuation of a slow decline in incidents since 2011, the year after annual testing was introduced for higher-risk regions in England and all herds in Wales.

Even so, data for this period is still ‘provisional’ and could be subject to alteration, and Defra claims there has been an “Overall long-term upward trend in the incidence of TB in cattle herds in GB” since the mid-90s.

The number of new herd incidents between January and November last year was 4,341 compared to 4,459 for the same period in 2013, and the number of tests on officially TB free herds was 71,562 over the same period, compared to 66,280 the previous year.

The number of cattle compulsorily slaughtered as reactors or direct contacts was 29,505between January and November, compared to 30,213 in 2013.

An update on the figures will be published next month. More detailed information is available from Defra here.