The Associated Press | Posted: Tuesday, March 2, 2004 12:00 am
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (AP) - Eastern Idaho researchers are finalizing a new field test to determine whether cattle or bison exposed to brucellosis are actually infected.
"We're in the validation stage," molecular biologist Frank Roberto said. "We need to demonstrate it's accurate before the veterinary community will accept it."
Roberto and co-researcher Deborah Newby at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) also say the test can be modified to look for bioterrorism agents, depending on the type of analysis used.
That has generated financial support for their work from the Department of Homeland Security as well as money from the U.S. Park Service and from within INEEL itself.
Brucellosis causes cattle, bison, elk and other animals to abort their calves. It can also cause flu-like symptoms in humans who become infected. But infection in commercial livestock can be financially devastating because it can prompt severe restrictions on interstate movement of stock.
Testing has taken on new importance in the region since the recent discovery of the disease in two cattle herds in Wyoming. It has cost the state its brucellosis-free status, prompting sanctions from other states, including more rigorous, and costly, testing requirements for ranchers. The state must now go a year without new brucellosis cases before it can regain disease-free status.
Unlike the test commonly used, which only identifies whether an animal has been exposed to the bacteria, the DNA test being developed by Roberto and Newby confirms that an animal is infected. They hope to have the test ready next year.
Their test equipment can be carried in a 55-pound backpack, Newby said, and can test samples of a variety of tissues, not just blood, using paper strips that extract DNA. One sample takes about an hour and a half to process in the field.
The National Park Service is interested in using the test on bison in Yellowstone National Park, Roberto said, particularly after it begins giving buffalo live Brucella vaccines.
"They want to make sure the test picks up the difference between the vaccine live virus and real infections," he said.