KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) — Backtracking some Ottawa County cows that were found to have bovine tuberculosis, authorities found more infected cows in a Kalamazoo County roping cattle herd.
Two of the Kalamazoo County cows were found to have the disease. They were removed from the rest of the herd, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said in a Tuesday release.
Authorities checked the Kalamazoo County herd because infected cows had spent time there. Those cows originated in an infected herd in Indiana and ended up in Ottawa County, where they were recently discovered and destroyed.
As in Ottawa County, authorities have set up a three-mile surveillance area around where the Kalamazoo County herd lived. All the cattle in that area will be tested for bovine TB within the next six months as a precaution to stem the spread of the disease.
The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention says bovine tuberculosis can cause TB in people who consume contaminated unpasteurized dairy products or have direct contact with a wound. But the CDC says bovine TB is responsible for less than 2 percent of total human TB cases in the U.S. Beef cattle processors check for the bovine TB and pasteurization kills the bacteria in milk.
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