USDA offers $35 million for TB emergencies

WASHINGTON — An additional $35 million in emergency funding is available for the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) bovine tuberculosis (TB) eradication program.

The announcement came last month from Bruce Knight, agriculture undersecretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs. The allocation beefs up the $2 million emergency fund already in place for TB control and eradication.

"This bovine TB funding will support enhanced surveillance efforts and indemnity for infected herds and brings the program significantly closer to eradication of the disease in New Mexico," Knight says. "This funding also will support our efforts to protect the health of the national herd and prevent disease spread."

Deer and elk populations enhance TB's reach, says Dr. M. Gatz Riddell, executive vice president of the American Association of Bovine Practitioners. But despite a few challenges at the country's southern border and an outbreak in Michigan, the disease largely has been contained, he says.

During the past 5 years, USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service reports it's identified 35 TB-affected herds.

At press time, all states were designated TB-free except portions of Michigan, Minnesota and New Mexico, which had an outbreak in June.

USDA reports New Mexico's positive test results came from a herd on a Curry County dairy farm. The emergency funds will allow for depopulation and indemnification of the infected herd, officials say.

The funds also will support overall TB eradication efforts that include surveillance, control and epidmiologic investigations.