The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is trying to determine if two outbreaks of anaplasmosis in eastern Manitoba are isolated incidents or if there’s a risk that the disease will spread to other parts of Western Canada.“We have two pockets in Manitoba…. So do we need to continue to look at them to see is this spreading from here,” said Sandra Stephens, a CFIA veterinarian and disease control specialist in Saskatoon.“If it’s isolated, then what are the factors that lead to it?”Anaplasmosis is a disease caused by a micro-organism that attacks red blood cells in cattle. It is most often spread by infected ticks and can be deadly for older animals. Cattle more than two years of age will die from anaplasmosis 29 to 49 percent of the time, according to a CFIA fact sheet on the disease.On its website, the CFIA reported there were 12 cattle herds and one bison herd infected with anaplasmosis as of April 30 in the Rural Municipality of Stuartburn. Subsequent test results have increased that number, Stephens said.“In the Stuartburn area, right now, we have detected 15 infected herds,” she noted.In total, the CFIA found that 246 animals tested positive out of 5,000 head. Those positive animals have been removed and destroyed.Of the 15 herds in the RM of Stuartburn, a few have shown a high prevalence of anaplasmosis, Stephens said. On one farm, 60 percent of all animals tested positive.The CFIA also found the disease in eight herds in the Lac du Bonnet area during testing that began in the fall of 2008.After that initial outbreak, the CFIA returned to the region this winter.“We tested those cattle again and we had five of those herds that had reoccurrence of the disease,” Stephens said.The CFIA has ceased its testing program for now because it’s difficult to test cattle out on pasture. But the persistence of anaplasmosis concerns Stephens and other disease control specialists, because it demonstrates that the micro-organism is surviving in the tick population.“Up until now, we’ve not actually seen it carry over. We had various outbreaks before but they’ve never sustained themselves within the cattle population in Canada,” she said.Previously, scientists believed Canadian winters killed the ticks and controlled the spread of anaplasmosis.“We do recognize that we have a vector (ticks),” for the disease, Stephens said. “Is it a fully confident vector in Canada or not?”To answer that question, the CFIA may continue to monitor the disease in Manitoba.“There are consultations going on within the industry in Canada about anaplasmosis as a reportable disease,” she said. “We will be waiting for that process to be complete.”At its annual general meeting this winter, the Manitoba Cattle Producers Association passed a resolution to maintain anaplasmosis as a reportable disease.Don Winnicky, a cattle producer and MCPA rep for the region that includes the RM of Stuartburn, said most farmers in the region support the MCPA’s position.
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