| April 18, 2008
Statement by Chief Veterinary Medical Officer John Clifford regarding detection of malignant catarrhal fever in commercial cattle
"Yesterday, we received confirmatory test results from our National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa, diagnosing wildebeest-associated malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) in a cow from a mixed-use operation in Texas. The disease appears to have spread to the animal from exposure to captive wildebeests on the same property. It is important to note that MCF is not a contagious disease in cattle and poses no threat to human health. It cannot be transmitted between people and animals."
"USDA foreign animal disease diagnosticians and state animal health officials are conducting an epidemiological investigation into the incident and are tracing the movement of all potentially affected animals from the premises of origin. One-hundred thirty-four breeding heifers from this herd were recently shipped to Illinois, Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Because cattle cannot transmit the disease to other cattle or livestock, the interstate movement of these animals poses no risk."
View the entire news release on the USDA Web site at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/newsroom/content/2008/04/malignant_cath_fever.shtm.
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