Texas' TB-"free" status questionable

Two of Texas' estimated 153,000 cattle herds have been diagnosed with cattle tuberculosis since summer 2001, calling into question the state's "free" status for (TB) eradication.

This month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will decide whether to cancel Texas' TB-free status, which was earned in November 2000, except for portions of El Paso and Hudspeth Counties due to recurring infections.

"According to the USDA's Code of Federal Regulations for tuberculosis, any state will lose its "free" status when two infected herds are detected within a 48-month period," explains Dr. Linda Logan, Texas' state veterinarian and executive director of the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC), the state's livestock health regulatory agency.

TAHC and USDA staff tested more than 60 herds and traced five years of cattle movement into and out of the suspect county of Fayette's herd to pinpoint the origin of the TB infection. Epidemiology tracing and testing is still under way for a Pecos County herd.

"We anticipate that the USDA rule to downgrade Texas' TB status from "free" to modified accredited advanced status could be published sometime in April," says Dr. Richard Ferris, area veterinarian-in-charge for the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Veterinary Services (USDA-APHIS-VS) in Texas. He noted that the specific regulation changes would affect all of Texas, except El Paso and Hudspeth Counties, which will remain separate, due to high-risk herds awaiting federal depopulation.

"Upon publication of the rule, Texas breeding cattle that are being moved out of state will have to be tested for TB and be identified with an official ear tag," says Ferris.

In two years, Texas could apply with the USDA for reinstatement of TB-free status, if no additional infection is detected, says Logan.