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May 11, 2006 U.S., Canadian Veterinarians Develop Anthrax Recommendations Animal health experts from North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Manitoba are working together to prevent the occurrence of anthrax. The university, state and provincial veterinarians, along with federal veterinarians from the U.S. and Canada, have developed basic unified recommendations for the three states and Canadian province. 2005 was a bad year for anthrax in the upper Midwest and Manitoba. The disease killed more than 500 animals in the region. Most were cattle, but bison, horses, sheep, llamas and farm-raised elk and deer also died. The recommendations stress two points – the importance of vaccinating cattle and other livestock against anthrax in areas where it has been a problem and burning anthrax-contaminated carcasses as quickly as possible whenever possible. “These recommendations are intended to educate the public and prevent cases of anthrax from occurring, and if they do occur, offer recommendations to protect public and animal health,” says North Dakota State University Extension Service veterinarian Charlie Stoltenow. He helped draft the document. Veterinarians advise livestock producers to contact their veterinarian about having their animals vaccinated before turning them out to pasture or rangeland this grazing season. The unified recommendations say animals should be vaccinated about four weeks before anthrax usually appears. Only one anthrax vaccine is licensed in the U.S. and Canada. The vaccine is very effective and safe, Stoltenow says. It will not cause anthrax in animals and is not dangerous to humans. Anthrax can be a long-term problem because the spores of the bacteria that cause it can survive in the soil for many decades. Cases of anthrax develop almost every year in North Dakota, according to Susan Keller, state veterinarian. However, favorable weather conditions, such as heavy rainfall and flooding, may have made the disease more widespread than usual last year, she says. Rain and flooding can raise the spores to the ground’s surface, where livestock graze. “Drought conditions, the other extreme in weather, also can be attributed to soil erosion and allowing spores to resurface,” says Keller, who helped create the unified recommendations. “If producers have livestock in known endemic areas, which are experiencing either of these conditions, it is recommended that they consider vaccinating against anthrax.” The unified recommendations also include the following:
For more information about anthrax and directions for burning carcasses, visit the NDSU Web site at www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/ansci/beef/v561w.htm. Information about anthrax also is available on the North Dakota Health Department’s Board of Animal Health Web site at www.agdepartment.com/Programs/Livestock/BOAH/BOAH.html. ### Source:
Charlie Stoltenow, (701) 231-7522, cstolten@ndsuext.nodak.edu |
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