By NANCY VORIS
Indiana Correspondent INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — A case of bovine tuberculosis (TB), discovered through routine testing at a meat processing facility in Pennsylvania, has been found in a cattle herd in southeastern Indiana.
Staff of the Indiana Board of Animal Health (BOAH) is in the early stages of conducting an investigation of the animal’s movements within the state and few details are available at this time. BOAH spokesperson Denise Derrer said some information may be available by the end of this week.
The last time a Hoosier herd tested positive for the disease was in the 1970s. Indiana has held a bovine tuberculosis-free status since 1984 with the USDA. Under federal guidelines, that status remains.
Bovine TB is a chronic bacterial disease that affects primarily cattle, but can be transmitted to any warm-blooded animal. It is difficult to diagnose through clinical signs alone and in the early stages of the disease, the signs are not visible.
Later, signs may include emaciation, lethargy, weakness, anorexia, low-grade fever and pneumonia with a chronic, moist cough. Lymph node enlargement may also be present.
Cattle owners who notice these signs in their livestock should contact their private veterinarian. There is presently no vaccine available for the disease.
Determining the source of bovine TB is a challenge because of the movement of cattle in and out of a herd and throughout the United States, especially when identification is not present. In some areas, wildlife may be the source of contamination.
Once a case is traced back to its herd of origin, it is recommended that the entire herd be depopulated to prevent the beef from entering the food chain. Because the bovine TB is difficult to detect, false negative tests can occur and symptoms sometimes develop over time, depopulation is the only means to prevent spreading the disease.
USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) oversees the depopulation is authorized to pay owners of TB-affected herds indemnity in an amount that, together with net salvage paid to the herd owner, does not exceed the appraised fair-market value of the individual animals or $ 3,000 per animal – whichever is highest.
Should a producer choose not to depopulate an affected herd, the entire herd must be quarantined indefinitely.
Since this is Indiana’s first case in the past 48 months, and if the infected herd is quickly depopulated, then the state may retain its accredited-free status and there is no restrictions on the movement of cattle for other producers. However, if actions cause the state to drop its status, producers would see additional requirements in moving animals.
Bovine TB was once the most prevalent infectious disease of cattle and swine in the United States, according to the USDA, and caused more losses among U.S. farm animals in the early part of this century than all other infectious diseases combined.
No other TB organism has as great a host range as bovine TB, which primarily affects humans but can also transmit to all warm-blooded vertebrates.
Efforts by APHIS initiated in 1917 has nearly eradicated bovine TB from the nation’s livestock population. The eradication program, advances in sanitation and hygiene, the discovery of effective drugs and the pasteurization of milk has reduced the disease’s presence in humans.
A September report by the USDA showed the most recent outbreaks in cattle herds in the southwestern United States: California (1997), Texas (2003), Mexico (2006), Mexico (2007) and California and New Mexico this year. For more information on the disease and investigation as it develops, see the BOAH website at www.boah.in.gov |
