Brucellosis cases down significantly WASHINGTON, D.C. - “We’ve finally reversed the trend in brucellosis,” Dr. Frank J. Mulhem reports. “For the first time in five years, we’ve got a /WO. 1 CHOICE OF FARMERS RD 4 BOX 34A GETTYSBURG , PA 17325 Mail This Coupon or Call (717) 334.2168 significant decrease in the amount of infection in U.S. cattle. The increased em phasis on this disease is paying off.” Dr. Mulhern, ad TIME TO BUY THAT MORTON BUILDING YOU'VE WANTED ALL YEAR! For further information mail coupon to nearest Morton listed | M— J| J □ Send mlormation on MORTON BUILDINGS LF a ' j ■ □ Have your salesman phone me (or an appointment * I □ Garages Shops □ Hog Confinement , I | □ Machine Sheds □ Cattle Confinement ' | I D Horse Barns D Free Stall Barns & Silo Feed Rooms ■ J □ Gram Storage □ Livestock Barns ministrator of USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), refers to the fact that both the number of cattle herds quarantined because of the disease and the reactor rate of cattle tested under the Market Cattle Identification program (MCI) dropped dramatically during the first half of 1977. During this time,' about 14 million cattle were tested for brucellosis. Brucellosis, also called Bang’s disease, is a highly contagious disease of cattle and other livestock. It also affects humans as undulant fever. APHIS reports that from Aug. 1, 1976, to Aug. 1, 1977, the number of herds quarantined for the disease fell 17 percent - from 9,829, to 8,163. States showing the greatest decreases were: Louisiana, from 1,155 to 624; Texas, from 3,260 to 2,835; Mississippi, from 1,028 to 708; Georgia, from 374 to 266; Missouri, from 239 to 164; Nebraska, from 73 to 34; and Montana, from 63 to 30. Perhaps even more FREE! Beautiful MORTON BUILDINGS Man’s Self-Winding Day/Date WRIST WATCH With Each New Morton Building Purchased Between Nov 1,1977 and Dec 24, 1977 (Erected a our convenience) J NAME J ADDRESS 8 Telephone No. significant, the MCI reactor rate decreased from 0.716 percent in 1975 to 0.660 percent in 1976 and to 0.473 percent in the first half of 1977. About 90 percent of ail mature female cattle slaughtered annually are tested under MCI for brucellosis. Dr. Mulhem explained that the MCI rate “is the best indicator of the impact of our program.” The rate had risen for three years pre viously. In the first half of 1977, 35 states reported drops in their MCI reactor rates. Those with the greatest drops were: Rhode Island, down 100 percent; Massachusetts, down 91 percent; New Mexico, down 86 percent; Minnesota, down 80 percent; Arizona, down 74 percent; Maryland, down 70 percent; lowa, down 64 percent; Montana, down 54 percent; and Michigan and Colorado, both down 51 percent. The principle reasons for the recent progress in combatting brucellosis are increased spending and - «' ' 5 * MACHINE »ARN concentration on the disease. Also, those states with the greatest brucellosis problems increased their participation in the program to eradicate the disease. “Brucellosis infection went up in the early ’7os mainly because the states and APHIS were con centrating their efforts on other diseases. We didn’t have unlimited resources and personnel,” Dr. Mulhem said. “We had outbreaks of Venezualan equine en cephalomyelitis and exotic Newcastle disease. We also were heavily involved in a national hog cholera eradication program.” These emergency programs diverted animal disease control personnel away from the brucellosis program. Now that these problems are under control, greater resources and funds are being directed at the brucellosis problem. (USDA is spending $53.9 million next year on the program as compared with about $41.5 million this year and $34.8 million the year before.) “We can not paint an entirely rosy picture, however,” Dr. Mulhem said. Although nationwide a number of herds quaran tined for brucellosis decreased during the first half of 1977, some states showed increases. Of the problem states - those in the southeastern and south central United States - quarantined herd numbers’ went up in Kentucky from 289 to 314, and Florida from 505 to 507. Florida’s numbers are expected to increase next year also because area blood testing programs are now under way there. States that formerly had few or no cases of brucellosis also showed increases. These are: New York from 9 to 33; North Carolina from 2 to 9; North Dakota from 0 to 3; Ohio from 2 to 5; Penn sylvania from 4 to 14; South Carolina from 2 to 9; Washington from 8 to 15; West Virginia from 4 to 7; Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 29,1977 and Puerto Rico from 105 to 134. Dr. Mulhern offered several reasons for these increases. In Pennsylvania and New York, importation of infected cattle from Canada has created a problem. “We took some drastic action to restrict these imports,” he said. “The infected cattle were coming from ‘dealer herds.’ We no longer allow the importation of cattle from these ‘dealer herds.’” Other states attribute their increased infection to illegal interstate shipment of known-infected and untested cattle for sale. Dr. Mulhern said cattlemen sometimes take their animals to a neighboring state where negative brucellosis tests are not necessary for sale. At the market, they register a fictitious name and ad dress and sell their infected cattle to an unsuspecting buyer. The disease then spreads. This type of scheme may have led to the in creases in the number of quarantined herds in states such as Ohio, West Virginia and the Carolinas, which border problem states. As a basis for evaluating the extent of problems, however, quarantined herd figures may be misleading. Changes in these numbers could be due to an increased or decreased effort in the search for infection rather than a change in the amount of infection itself. The MCI rate usually detects changes in brucellosis prevalence faster and is a more ac curate measure of actual infection. Some states reported decreases m the number of quarantined herds yet showed increases in MCI rate. They were: Louisiana (down 531 herds, MCI rate up 20 percent); Nevada (down one herd, MCI rate up 12 percent); and Georgia (down 108 herds, MCI rate up one percent). A total of 15 states, mostly (Continued on Page 102) 101
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