The United States has removed brucellosis testing requirements for cattle and bison from British Columbia.As of June 17, sexually intact cattle and bison that have lived in B.C. since March 25, 2010, are no longer required to test negative for brucellosis before being exported to the U.S., said a news release from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.The restrictions had been put in place after three beef cows originating from two B.C. farms were suspected of having brucellosis, based on routine U.S. Department of Agriculture tests at slaughter. Subsequent CFIA tests proved the ranches and the animals did not have brucellosis. Earlier this year, thousands of B.C. cattle were quarantined when early tests suspected the presence of anaplasmosis, a tick borne disease. The cattle remained under quarantine until the disease was ruled out.”It has been an unusual chain of events,” said B.C. Cattlemen’s Association president Judy Guichon. The threat of a new disease was stressful to cattle producers, but Guichon said she preferred to see the CFIA err on the side of caution to protect animal health. “Tests are more exacting all the time so they pick up pathogens that give similar responses,” she said. Brucellosis is a contagious bacterial disease that causes abortions in mammals. Canada started an eradication program in livestock in the 1940s and was declared free of the disease in 1985. The last known case occurred in a Saskatchewan cattle herd in 1989.
U.S. lifts brucellosis export restrictions
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