Press release from the Indiana Board of Animal Health:
Indiana Releases Third TB Quarantine
(INDIANAPOLIS – 17 December 2009) The Indiana State Board of Animal Health (BOAH) has released the third, and final, quarantine of three cervid farms that housed animals that tested positive for bovine tuberculosis (commonly called “TB,” or more formally known as Mycobacterium bovis).
All three sites, located in Franklin, Wayne and Harrison counties, had to be depopulated, cleaned, then disinfected under BOAH supervision for the quarantines to be lifted. The operations were identified as part of a disease investigation after cervids on the Franklin County farm tested positive for TB in May. “Cervid” is a category of animals that includes elk and various species of deer.
To date, Indiana’s TB status for cervids has not changed. Under U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines, because all three premises are linked, this remains one case.
More information about the disease and the investigation, as it develops, will be available on the BOAH website.
About Bovine TB
Bovine tuberculosis is a chronic bacterial disease that affects primarily cattle, but can be transmitted to any warm-blooded animal. TB is difficult to diagnose through clinical signs alone. In the early stages of the disease, clinical 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.
A TB-positive beef cow that was traced to a Franklin County farm in December 2008, although in the vicinity of the index cervid herd, was not declared to be a TB-positive cattle herd by USDA. That herd, which was fully tested two times over 60 days, did not yield any positive animals, leaving Indiana’s cattle status unchanged since 1984.
Indiana’s Free status for cattle and bison remains unaffected. USDA maintains a separate status rating for the two species groups. Only when two unrelated cases of bovine tuberculosis are identified in cattle within 48 months will a state’s status change.