6-9 FB Brucellosis Spreading
Brucellosis in animals is generally typified by late-term abortions and inflammatory lesions in the male reproductive tract.. Bison, elk, reindeer and caribou can be infected but their role in transmission of the infections to livestock remains under debate. Controversy continues in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem regarding the role of bison and/or elk that wander outside the Yellowstone National Park's borders and infecting domestic cattle. Brucella abortus is the strain that most commonly infects cattle and as the Latin term suggests, it produces abortion of calves. There is no easy solution to the problems of inter-species transmission of this bacterial infection and even worse news …brucellosis is emerging in new "hot spots" around Yellowstone National Park. According to Trib.com news elk far from the state's winter feedgrounds, have been found to have brucellosis exposure rates ranging from 10 percent to 30 percent -- numbers that aren't all that different from feedground elk. Here’s Idaho head veterinarian Dr Bill Barton: “Winter feed grounds may certainly be propagating the prevalence of the disease. It’s apparent to everyone that population does pose the last remaining risk of brucellosis transmission to livestock.”
