By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent

ST. LEON, Ind. — “How quickly can bovine tuberculosis (TB) spread and decimate my herd?”

“Can runoff from the affected farm spread to my farm?”

“Will the sighting of TB in our state affect Indiana’s TB-free status?”
“Will this put a halt to deer harvesting in southeastern Indiana?”

These were just a sampling of questions from the capacity crowd of cattle producers and deer hunters who attended a special meeting held at the American Legion Post in St. Leon last week. The concerned, unhappy crowd bombarded state animal health and wildlife authorities with questions, after bovine TB was identified in a beef cattle herd in southeastern Indiana in February.

The disease was discovered in a cow being slaughtered at a meat processing facility in Michigan. It is the first TB-positive cattle herd in the state since the late 1970s.

Bret Marsh, state veterinarian with the Indiana Board of Animal Health (BOAH), spearheaded the intense two-hour gathering and outlined the plans his agency and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) had in dealing with the spotted outbreak.

“For the first time in 30 years we’re talking about bovine TB,” Marsh said. “Right now the affected farm has been depopulated, but we still don’t know the origin of the TB. The investigation is ongoing and we’re determined to find out where it came from.”

Marsh’s opening statements did little to calm or assure the 300 people in attendance. Most seemed to expect a rapid eradication of the disease. Some even felt the BOAH should have acted more quickly.

“Bovine TB is a slow-moving disease found primarily in mammals such as cattle, deer, even humans,” Marsh said. “It’s spread from nose-to-nose, through feed and from carcasses. Most of the bovine TB cases I’ve dealt with stemmed from slaughter plants as part of the inspection process, but our concern here is with whitetail deer and the cattle population, and we’ve been investigating TB in this part of Indiana the past three years.”

Last year two steers tested positive for bovine TB. The steers were shipped from Indiana via the market in Eaton, Ohio, and eventually was shipped to a plant in Pennsylvania. In 2009, a site in Franklin County in Indiana had a mixed population of cervid animals which tested positive for TB.

In 2008, a livestock buyer from Ohio purchased a TB-infected steer from Indiana. That animal tested positive for TB at a packing plant in Pennsylvania.
In this latest discovery of TB in southeastern Indiana, BOAH authorities identified the six most likely farms that could have provided the cow with the disease, before narrowing it down to just one farm.

“We quarantined the farms and tested 250 head,” Marsh said. “Five of those farms tested negative. The herd at the affected site has since been depopulated. We’ve even checked the trace-outs (sales from the herd) as well as the trace-ins.”

Warmer weather should help, not hinder, the efforts of BOAH and Indiana DNR. “We’re going into the hot, dry season when the TB organism doesn’t live as long outside a host,” Marsh added. “This is the right time of year for these efforts.”

Another chief concern of attending producers was the potential loss of Indiana’s TB-free status. Such a loss would prevent the sale of cattle across state lines.

“The USDA gave Indiana a TB-free status in 1984,” Marsh said. “Two infected herds in a four-year period could affect the state’s TB-free status.”
Producers at this gathering are hoping the disease doesn’t show up in the wild deer population.

“If we find a deer positive with TB, we’ll probably have another meeting right here,” Marsh said. “When you have TB in a free-ranging population your game plan has changed significantly. Fortunately, we’ve yet to find a cervid strain of TB in whitetail deer.”

Other pertinent authorities addressed the crowd as well. Dr. James Hollis, epidemiologist with BOAH, gave a forensic analysis of what bovine TB is and how it must be managed. He also outlined TB testing methods.

His talk was of special interest to deer hunters, as it gave them an idea of what to look for when field-dressing their harvest. Hollis advised hunters to notify his agency immediately if the animal carcass looks out of the ordinary.
“TB from animals is not new,” Hollis said. “In the 1940s we had TB detected from non-homogenized milk.”

Gary Langell of the DNR outlined steps that were being taken in dealing with smaller wild animals in Dearborn and surrounding counties, and methods being used to check them for TB.

Dr. Joe Caudell, wildlife disease biologist from Purdue University, discussed tactics being used in small animal removal and why animals such as possums, raccoons and the like could be potential carriers of TB. Caudell discussed the methods used in using the live traps.

“Our efforts are in and around that affected farm right now because that’s the greatest chance of finding an infected animal,” he said.

Andy Cline, conservation officer with the DNR, gave the crowd an update on the target deer removal efforts, saying many in Dearborn and adjacent counties have been killed and tested for TB. Those tested, he said, have turned up negative.

“Our goal was to kill and test 50 deer on and around the affected property, and we’ve killed 37 in six trips to this point,” Cline said. “Those killed tested negative for the disease.”

TB is difficult to diagnose through clinical signs alone. In the early stages of the disease, such 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 veterinarians.