NOTE: As updates on this story become available, we will post them in reverse chronological order behind the following Wyoming Livestock Board press release.
WY Livestock Board Press Release:
The Wyoming State Veterinarian has been notified by the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory that blood from 3 cows has reacted to tests for Brucellosis. The cows are from a single herd in Park County.
Brucellosis is a bacterial disease that can cause cattle, elk, and bison to abort their calves and can be a serious disease in humans in the form of undulant fever. Reactors on blood tests do not absolutely prove that cattle are infected with Brucellosis. However, these reactors were very strong indicating that the likelihood of infection is high. Tissue samples and blood have been collected from the reactor animals and submitted to the Wyoming State Vet Lab and the National Veterinary Service Laboratory for a full diagnostic evaluation. It may take two weeks or longer to complete the diagnostic work up.
The Wyoming Livestock Board is working with USDA APHIS and the herd owner to complete a whole herd test. Contact and adjourning herds will also be tested and an epidemiologic investigation has begun.
A public meeting to discuss Brucellosis and the situation in Park County is scheduled for 7:00 P.M Tuesday, November 2, 2010 at the Meeteetse
———————————————| UPDATE 10/28/10 |———————————————
Dr. Jim Logan, Wyoming’s State Veterinarian spoke with Northern Ag Thursday morning. He told us that the three cows did test positive on the market test at Worland Livestock about a week ago and further tests are now being conducted to ensure that these were not false positives.
In the meantime, crew on the ground including Dr. Jim Logan, Wyoming’s state Veterinarian, have been testing the quarantined single herd that these three animals came from and identifying contact and comingling animals.
Dr. Logan explained what testing is happening.
How about the state’s brucellosis free status? This potential case is more than two years after the last case, which is good for the state under the current system. But, this all comes at a time when the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has been soliciting input on a new way of handling the disease that would completely eliminate what most refer to as an outdated state status system all together.
Thanks to Dr. Jim Logan for helping us get this information out there while he is so busy!
———————————————| UPDATE 10/27/10 |———————————————
While the positive tests are only preliminary at this point, Lyndsay Cole with the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service told us that there needs to be two positive tests in two years for it to downgrade Wyoming’s state brucellosis status.
Listen to Lyndsay’s explanation of the current rules.
To be more date-specific, Lyndsay said that the last positive case was found in May of 2008 and confirmed in June 2008.
© Northern Ag Network 2010
Haylie Shipp
