Buffalo Field Campaign Weekly Updates from the Field 2006/2007

   Unfortunately, the AP reporter who wrote about test results on slaughtered bison (April 25) has fallen victim to media spin by the state Department of Livestock and the federal Animal Plant Health Inspection Service, and repeated a very common error about brucellosis. The blood tests done on the slaughtered animals did not indicate infection. They merely indicated exposure during the animals' lifetime. There is a huge difference.

   For example, if you were to test me for smallpox, you'd find antibodies in my blood because of a vaccine I had as a child. Of course I'm not infected now, nor can I pass along the disease. The same is true for any animal that tests positive for brucellosis in a blood test. The only true measure of infection is a tissue test, which can be done on dead animals.

   The question now is, will DOL or APHIS do this tissue test and give us the true answers regarding infection rates? I greatly appreciate the Chronicle's coverage of this issue, but ask that you be more diligent in questioning information from DOL and APHIS.

   Carolyn Duckworth
   Gardiner

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