Brucellosis: The Disease in Bison

Submitted by bsiadmin on Mon, 04/07/2008 - 16:59.

Publication Type:

Conference Paper

Authors:

Williams, Elizabeth S.; Steven L. Cain; Donald S. Davis

Source:

Brucellosis, Bison, Elk, and Cattle in the Greater Yellowstone Area: Defining the Problem, Exploring Solutions, Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Greater Yellowstone Interagency Brucellosis Committee, Jackson, WY, p.7-19 (1994)

Call Number:

636.089 B886 1997

Keywords:

animal studies; bacteria; brucella; brucella abortus; bison (Bison bison); brucellosis; disease; ecosystems; wildlife health

Abstract:

Brucellosis has been recognized in bison (Bison bison) since Mohler (1917) reported abortion and serologic evidence of exposure to Brucella in three captive cow bison in Yellowstone National Par (YNP), Wyoming. Since that time, brucellosis in free-ranging and captive or ranched bison has been the subject of investigation and control, primarily by animal disease regulatory agencies, including the Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of the United States Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Canada, and the various states and provinces. Though brucellosis has been known to occur in bison for more than 70 years, has been the target of eradication programs for over 50 years, and had been extensively studied in cattle, there are relatively little carefully collected and peer reviewed data available on brucellosis in bison to guide management of this disease. Such basic information as the epizootiology of brucellosis in bison under free-ranging conditions, or even under ranched conditions, and pathogenesis are not well understood. There is a wealth of serologic data (Meyer and Meagher 1995b); however, seldom is this information placed in the context of the whole animal utilizing microbiology and publicly owned, free-ranging bison herds have been cleared of brucellosis via vaccination and test and slaughter methods, little data generated by these procedures are available in the published literature. Such opportunities should be used for careful and thorough collection of data with publication in scientific journals where it can be scrutinized, debated, and used.Within the last 10 years, controlled research and investigation of the natural history of brucellosis in bison extended our knowledge beyond regulatory emphasis. The purpose of this transmission of B. abortus by bison, diagnostic techniques and interpretation for bison, and a case study of the history and biological consequences of brucellosis in the Jackson bison herd (JBH), Teton County, Wyoming. Information presented in this review will, for the most part, exclude the YNP bison herd which is covered elsewhere in this proceedings (Meyer and Meagher 1997).

Notes:

Found at Yellowstone Research LibraryNatureBib ID: 19367