Horse Health
Minnesota's TB Status is Downgraded
By
Apr 15, 2008, 10:28

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced today that it will officially downgrade Minnesota’s bovine tuberculosis (TB) status from Modified Accredited Advanced to Modified Accredited, effective Wednesday, April 9, 2008.

(Bovine TB is a contagious and infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium bovis. It affects cattle, bison, deer, elk, goats and other warm-blooded species and can be fatal.
The disease can be transmitted to humans through direct contact with infected animals or consumption of raw milk from infected animals. It is not transmitted through consumption of pasteurized milk. )

The drop in status, required by the USDA Code of Federal Regulations, follows the discovery of four additional infected herds within the last 12 months and will require Minnesota cattle producers to conduct additional testing when shipping animals out of state.

“We anticipated this federal downgrade once a fourth infected herd was found,” State Bovine TB Coordinator
Joe Martin said. “While some states had imposed their own restrictions, this downgrade means new testing
requirements for all non-slaughter cattle going from Minnesota to another state, as called for in USDA regulations.”

(The USDA classifies states or zones within states according to its level of occurrence of bovine TB.
There are five classification designations:
accredited free -- no TB infection
modified accredited advanced;
modified accredited,
accredited preparatory
and nonaccredited.
Restrictions on the interstate movement of cattle become less stringent as a state approaches or achieves accredited free status. )

In response to these new statewide testing requirements, the state is applying to USDA for split-state status. This will allow the majority of the state to upgrade its status, while a small region in northwest Minnesota containing the TB infection will remain Modified Accredited. Split-state status would help target resources where they are most needed, while also saving producers outside the affected area from the additional federal testing requirements that accompany MA status.

“We are continuing to work with USDA personnel on the official risk assessment, which is a necessary step toward receiving split-state status,” said BAH Executive Director Dr. Bill Hartmann. “We are also expanding control measures to include all herds in the Management Area. When Minnesota achieves split-state status, the Management Area will become part of the larger Modified Accredited region.” For more information on TB, log on to the State’s bovine TB website at www.mntbfree.com.

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