THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, September 5, 1994 TAG: 9409050043
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: FLOYD LENGTH: Short : 43 lines
Tuberculosis tests required after a Floyd County cattle herd was infected may have discovered cattle with the disease in a neighboring herd.
If the tests of three cattle suspected of having TB are positive, Virginia would face the loss of its federal ``TB-free'' status for two years, making it more difficult for the state's farmers to market their cattle out of state.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture temporarily suspended the state's TB-free status in July after TB was found in cattle in an Ohio packing plant and traced back to a Floyd County farm. The entire herd of 287 animals eventually was sent to slaughter.
In order to avoid losing its TB-free status, the state was required to test all herds within 1 1/2 miles of the infected farm and any herds that might contain cattle sold from the farm.
During those tests, the three cattle on a farm near the first herd were identified as possibly having TB.
Those cattle underwent autopsies at a slaughterhouse Aug. 12, and suspicious-looking tissue was discovered, said Toni Radler, spokeswoman for the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
It will be about six more weeks until the results of tissue cultures from those cattle are returned, Radler said.
If the tests are negative and no TB is found outside the farm where it was first discovered, the state could have its TB-free status restored this fall.
Under the suspended status, eight of the nine states to which 90 percent of the state's cattle are shipped require no special testing for tuberculosis.
If Virginia loses its TB-free status, Virginia farmers might have to round up their cattle and give them costly tests before they could be sold to buyers in some states. by CNB