Staff of the Indiana State Board of Animal Health is investigating a case of bovine tuberculosis (commonly called "TB" in a beef cattle herd in southeastern Indiana. The aTB-positive cattle were identified through routine inspection at a meat processing facility in Pennsylvania.
BOAH veterinarians are in the process of conducting a thorough investigation of the Indiana herd from which the animals were shipped. In follow up to the initial positive report, the infected herd will be depopulated. Six beef steers were condemned at slaughter last week after exhibiting signs of TB. M. bovis was confirmed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture laboratory in Ames, IA over the weekend.
BOAH staff is working closely with the herd owner to trace any movements of animals into and out of the herd. As information develops, BOAH will notify herd owners and others who may be impacted by the investigation.
Indiana has officially held a bovine tuberculosis-free status since 1984 with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Under federal guidelines, that status remains. BOAH has found individual cases of TB in a cattle herd and a cervid farm in this region of the state between 2008 and 2011.
BOAH is also coordinating efforts with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources to determine if the disease is present in the wildlife population. BOAH and DNR have worked together on surveillance of hunter-harvested white-tailed deer in Franklin and surrounding counties since 2009. Of 430 wild white-tailed deer examined, none were found infected.