Bovine brucellosis comes under the microscope from now through July as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency seeks to improve surveillance of the contagious disease.
The CFIA is conducting a pilot project that will see cattle blood and tissue samples submitted for testing at laboratories that are part of the Canadian Animal Health Surveillance Network.
Canada is free of brucellosis, having eradicated the reportable disease in the 1980s, according to CFIA data.
Cattle are already tested at abattoirs to provide proof of the country’s disease-free status. The pilot is a way to see if improvements to existing surveillance are needed.
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The CFIA said producers can opt out of the pilot project by indicating such on submission papers that accompany test samples.
In its news release about the pilot, the CFIA outlined the procedures if a blood test or tissue culture is positive for brucellosis.
In both cases an investigation is launched and CFIA officials visit the source farm. Further samples will be taken. Animals confirmed with the disease are destroyed. Quarantine, testing and destruction of infected and exposed animals may follow, depending on the circumstances.
Compensation is available to producers who lose animals as a result.
