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If it Ain't Too Dry Then its Too Wet

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More Farms Quarantined Due to Anthrax Outbreak in Melfort Area



2006-07-05

Author: Neil Billinger-CJWW News

SaskatoonHomepage.ca

Canada



Three more farms are under quarantine to stem an anthrax outbreak in the Melfort area.



The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) says 20 farms are quarantined in the Rural Municipalities of Willow Creek and Kinistino.



CFIA veterinarian Dr. Greg Douglas says more than 60 cattle have died, even though only two positive cases of anthrax have been identified. 35 samples are still being tested. Results are expected late Wednesday or Thursday.



The spores, which cause anthrax, can remain in the soil for decades. Wet weather and the resulting erosion this spring has brought those spores to the surface.



A public meeting will be held Thursday night at the Northeast Leisure Centre. A CFIA veterinarian and a public health official will answer questions about the anthrax situation. The meeting begins at 7pm.



The anthrax outbreak has also forced the cancellation of the Melfort Regional 4-H Beef Show and Sale this weekend. Organizers decided to cancel the event to prevent any potential opportunity to spread the disease to other areas. 125 4-H members from northeast Saskatchewan were slated to participate in the event.





saskatoonhomepage.ca
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Where is Melfort?
 
Shelly said:
Melfort is about an hour and a half to two hours north east of Saskatoon.
Click to expand...

Thanks Shelly- thought it must be a ways up there, because I never heard of it before.....
 
I wonder if Rod (DiamondSCattleCo.) knows much about this. It's right on his doorstep. I've just heard bits and pieces about it on the news. I always thought anthrax showed up in drier conditions, when cows can graze slough-bottoms that are dried up.
 
Here is an update:

Today 7/9/2006 7:25:00 AM


Reuters: Anthrax Suspected Of Killing 73 Canadian Cattle

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - An anthrax outbreak in the Canadian Prairies, caused by spring flooding that exposed soil bacteria, is believed to have killed 73 cattle, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said on Thursday.

The CFIA has confirmed anthrax caused two of the deaths, and it said the rest were "suspicious." It has quarantined 22 farms in Saskatchewan, an agricultural province in Western Canada.

"It's south of a forest reserve that had significant flooding in the area and likely, it all comes from that particular weather event that exposed the pores to the suspected population," said Greg Douglas, CFIA veterinarian.

Anthrax is a fatal disease caused by a spore-forming bacterium that has been shed by an infected animal. Exposure from contaminated soil is a natural occurrence in the Prairies and cattle are the most common victims, although it can be transmitted to humans.

Douglas said the high number of cattle deaths in this outbreak was "significant."
 
Oldtimer...

Both Minnesota and North Dakota also have active cases of Anthrax this year, and with that in mind I'd guess South Dakota isn't far behind in having a case.

As of Thursday, July 6th, North Dakota had three confirmed cases, 2 in Emmons County (that is the county directly south of Bismarck,) and 1 case in Burleigh County (the county Bismarck is in.) I was visiting with our awesome State Vet and she said that we all should be thinking about Anthrax like we think of Blackleg, and vaccinate each year for it. Like the Blackleg vaccine, the Anthrax vaccine is cheap and extremely effective.

Each and every county in North Dakota has had a confirmed case of Anthrax since records were kept in 1907. Anthrax is such a cool disease as it can lay "dormant" (actually it's called sporulate) for centuries, and then with the "right" conditions become active.

A perfect Anthrax storm as such occurred in Nevada several years ago---in "memory" there had never been a case in Nevada, but when ranchers started putting in waterlines, all the sudden Anthrax was a huge problem...lots and lots of cases. What happened??? Well apparently carcasses of Anthrax infected animals had been buried, but with the digging in of water lines, the spores were brought to the surface, and became active....

Cheers---

TTB :wink:
 
Yeah- We had it on the res last year (or the year before)- had it in the county across the river the year before.....But I don't think in either of them they lost anywhere close to the number of cows they have up north there....I was unaware that the shots were that available or cheap...
 
Boy they are having a rough go up there--Finally found it on the map, Shelly...This has to be one of the biggest breakouts in years.......

Anthrax keeps killing



Sarah Macdonald, Saskatchewan News Network

The Leader-Post (Regina)

July 08, 2006



SASKATOON -- More animals have succumbed to the anthrax outbreak around Melfort, including farmed bison and farmed white-tail deer, as farmers and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) try to keep the toxin contained.



"We have 27 quarantined premises in the Melfort area, and we've had 106 suspected or questionable deaths," said Dr. Greg Douglas, a veterinarian with the CFIA.



Five deaths of anthrax have been confirmed so far, and many more results are pending, Douglas said. He said most of the dead animals are cattle, but there have been positive anthrax test results for bison and white-tail deer carcasses too.



A crew of about 25 people, including veterinarians, inspectors and support staff, is dealing with the outbreak. Local veterinarians from Melfort are also helping farmers vaccinate their herds.



"As of today we have dispensed 5,000 doses of vaccine," said Ross Hawkes, a summer student at a veterinary clinic in Melfort.



"We are also in charge of distributing the vaccines to necessary areas. It's in such short supply," he added.



Hawkes said most animals in the affected areas are being vaccinated, including cattle, horses, goats and sheep.



He said the CFIA bought an emergency supply of vaccinations from the United States.



There have been anthrax outbreaks in Saskatchewan before, Douglas said, but nothing quite like this. Anthrax spores can survive in soil for 50 to 250 years, he explained.





canada.com
 
Was listening to the news last night, and they were saying they ran out of vaccine yesterday. They won't be getting anymore till at least Wednesday. I feel for those cattle people up there.
 
Latest Update

Farmers struggle to halt anthrax outbreak



TENILLE BONOGUORE

From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

July 12, 2006

Canada



Thin ribbons of smoke curling into the northern Saskatchewan sky have become the marker of death for farmers battling to contain an anthrax outbreak that may have lain dormant in the soil since wild bison roamed the land generations ago.



In the two weeks since anthrax was discovered in a dead bull in Melfort, 136 animals on 21 properties have died of the disease.



The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said there is no way to know the extent of contamination, which emerged for the first time around Melfort after spring rains saturated the ground and brought the spores to the surface.



But it may be the most widespread anthrax outbreak in Saskatchewan since CFIA started keeping records 25 years ago, said Dr. Sandra Stephens, a Saskatoon-based veterinarian with the agency.



A vaccination campaign is being hamstrung by a lack of vaccine, and farmers are roaming their pastures trying to identify sick animals before the fast-acting anthrax kills them.



Livestock anthrax does not spread between living animals or through the air, but Dr. Stephens said spores could be on any property that was flooded, and could have been there for decades.



"This could be a problem in a very wide area. We could potentially see outbreaks through the rest of summer," Ms. Stephens said.



So far anthrax has killed cattle, horses, bison, sheep, goats and whitetail deer, sometimes in a matter of hours.



The CFIA says the outbreak does not pose a significant human health threat. No animals from the quarantined properties were sent to slaughter, and livestock anthrax rarely affects people, an agency bulletin states.



The outbreak is centred on Melfort, a town of about 6,000 people 175 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon. Most of the affected premises lie to the northwest, toward Prince Albert, which is 75 kilometres away, while two properties are toward the town of Wynyard, which lies 130 kilometres to the south. There are about 180,000 head of cattle in the affected area.



Cattle farmer Ken Tegstrom has lost four bulls on his 200-head property 35 kilometres northwest of Melfort, and now spends his days roaming his pastures to check for early signs of illness. But the increasing summer heat is making that job even more difficult as the animals become docile.



"You drive around inspecting your animals and you expect the worst all the time. You see smoke two to three miles down the road and you know your neighbour's burning another animal. It's quite depressing," Mr. Tegstrom said in a phone interview.



Carcasses of infected animals must be disposed of quickly and the contamination contained to prevent other animals coming into contact with anthrax-laden bodily fluids.



Mr. Tegstrom said that so many animals died last week, farmers had no time to bury or burn them. Instead, the CFIA decontaminated the carcasses by dousing them in formaldehyde and then covered them with tarpaulins for later disposal.



"The odour is a bad part and hard to deal with. It's harder to see and more stressful than getting rid of them quickly," he said. Farmers are now banding together to provide wood for the pyres, he said.



The Tegstrom family has worked that property since the 1940s, and Mr. Tegstrom said he had never seen anything like the current situation.



"It's very stressful. The whole community is exhausted. Anthrax is going to be something we never forget," he said.



All livestock -- more than 5,000 animals -- have been vaccinated in a 10-kilometres radius around the anthrax-positive properties to create a buffer zone, said veterinarian Eldon Pederson, co-owner of the Mohawk Animal Clinic in Melfort.



But as more properties test positive, he said vaccine supplies have run out. He has 11,500 doses on order, and a neighbouring clinic is waiting for 6,000.



"We still have people in that six-mile zone that are not vaccinated yet," Dr. Pederson said. "There's urgency all right, especially for animals close to the outbreak. Animals at high risk need to be vaccinated again in two or three weeks after the initial dose."



It takes about eight days for the vaccine to take effect, during which time further deaths may occur. Because anthrax was not known to be in the area, animals have not been routinely vaccinated against it, but Dr. Pederson said that is likely to change now.





theglobeandmail.com
 

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