BRUCELLOSIS

Sarah Jacobs And

Jessica Sampson

Videos!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b45P

4ut2K0Q http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLfysI

pGk_Y http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRS4s

hfH1Pw

Microbiology Bacteria Brucella abortus Gram- negative Rod shaped Blood-borne pathogen Zoonotic Killed by disinfectants and pasturization

Symptoms ANIMALS:

aborted fetuses weak offspring low milk production

HUMANS: flu-like symptoms Fever Pain Fatigue Swollen glands

Transmission: How HUMANS:

unpasteurized milk and cheese Contact with infected materials Aerosols and sexually

ANIMALS: Infected meat Contact with afterbirth Aerosols and sexually

Transmission: Who Mostly cattle and bison/buffalo Humans Rarely goats, elk, camels, pigs, and

canines

Treatment Test-and-slaughter technique Two types of vaccinations Antibiotics Quarantine herds Depopulate herds

A Major Problem Yellowstone National Park is a major home for

buffalo In the past, buffalo and cattle shared grazing

grounds Farmers killed and ran buffalo back into YNP Hunting of buffalo dwindled populations to near

extinction SO…..

Management Government put hunting policies on

buffalo to increase their population Buffalo grazing land outside of YNP was

expanded Buffalo were quarantined, tested and

vaccinated Over $3.5 billion was spent on

vaccinating cattle herds

CASE STUDYReproduction and Survival

of Yellowstone Bison

Conservation of bison in YNP has lead to conflict regarding overabundance and potential

transmission of brucellosis to cattle

Objectives 1. Estimate pregnancy rates, birth rates,

adult survival, and population growth rates in each bison herd.

2) Evaluate what factors influenced these rates.

3) Estimate a population growth rate (k) from these vital rates.

Methods Captured adult female bison during

October, February, and May 1995-1999. Fit bison with radio collars equipped with

motion-sensitive mortality sensors. Aged the Bison using wear patterns in

teeth. Used telemetry homing techniques to

monitor the survival of radio collared bison monthly during autumn 1995 through spring 2001.

Methods cont. When a mortality signal was detected, they

located the animal and evaluated cause of death. They recaptured radio collared bison during

early-term pregnancy (Oct), late-term pregnancy (Feb), and shortly after calving (Apr-May) during 1995- 2001.

They monitored bison daily during the calving season from mid-March through June.

They considered birth successful when a live calf in close association with the female was observed. They considered birth unsuccessful if they observed an aborted fetus, stillborn calf, or if they repeatedly failed to detect a calf associated with the female.

Results 26 bison were captured from the northern herd 27 bison from the central herd They were monitored for 101 and 89 animal-

years. There were 15 deaths of marked bison during

1995-2001, excluding capture-related deaths and removals.

Five bison died from unknown causes, 4 from vehicle collisions, 3 from predation, 2 from winterkill, and 1 from injury.

Results cont. They monitored birth rates of 48 females aged

23 years, which produced 96 live calves in 145 reproductive seasons.

Of these 145 records, 66 were from bison testing positive for brucellosis, whereas 69 records were from brucellosis-negative bison, and 10 records were from bison sero-converting that year.

These records included 15 from 3- year-old females, 82 records from 4-8 year olds, and 44 records from females >9 years.

Results cont. There was considerable support for

variation in birth rates between age classes.

These results suggested the growth rate of the population could increase approximately 29% if brucellosis were eliminated.

Discussion As expected, 3 year olds had lower pregnancy

and birth rates than did older individuals. However, they did not detect reduced survival in older animals (>9 yr) due to senescence.

50-55% of bison in both herds have been exposed to brucellosis.

Brucellosis infections reduced birth rates in both age categories, although these effects were most prevalent in bison that were exposed to brucellosis that year (i.e., sero-converters) and effects seemed to wane thereafter.

Discussion cont. Four radio collared bison began to test

negative for brucellosis in years after having previously tested positive.

Brucellosis antibody levels in these animals may have decreased to a level below detectablity.

As expected, the relatively constant adult survival was the most elastic trait, and juvenile survival was highly variable year to year.

Management Findings suggest that if vaccination plans are implemented

and successful at substantially reducing or eradicating brucellosis, then population growth rates could increase approximately 29%.

Increased growth rates could contribute to more movement outside the park because bison respond to increased density through spatial responses .

Even without the threat of brucellosis transmission, such movements would exacerbate societal conflicts regarding overabundance and property damage.

Future research should focus on estimating juvenile survival because this rate is currently largely unknown, but it seems to have a relatively high effect on population growth.

Conclusion There are no cases on record of bison

transmitting Brucellosis to cattle If brucellosis in bison is treated, their

population could increase…..causing other economic implications

Populations of bison and cattle need to be continually monitored and managed

Is brucellosis transmission between bison and cattle really a concern?

Fun Facts Brucellosis is one of the most easily acquired

laboratory infections. any bison who tests positive will be shipped to

slaughterhouses and have their meat distributed to American Indian tribes and food banks.

In one study, coyotes were fed infected cattle placenta to test whether they would transmit it back to the cattle.

http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/should-the-bison-be-slaughtered/question-1497157/?link=ibaf&imgurl=http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGS/Shared/StaticFiles/animals/images/1024/bison-baby.jpg&q=bison%2Bbrucellosis%2Bmap

Sources http://www.cfsph.iastate.edu/Factsheets/pdfs/brucellosis_abortus.pdf http://0-www.jstor.org.catalog.lib.cmich.edu/openurl?

volume=71&date=2007&spage=2365&issn=0022541X&issue=7 http://0-onlinelibrary.wiley.com.catalog.lib.cmich.edu/doi/10.1111/j.1365-

2664.2009.01633.x/pdf  http://www.libraryindex.com/pages/670/Endangered-Mammals-BISON.html  http://www.jwildlifedis.org/cgi/reprint/24/3/533.pdf http://www.asm.org/images/pdf/Brucella101504.pdf  http://www.nps.gov/yell/naturescience/bisonqa.htm  http://www.uptodate.com/contents/microbiology-epidemiology-and-

pathogenesis-of-brucella http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/16/us-yellowstone-bison-

idUSTRE71E0CI20110216 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b45P4ut2K0Q  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLfysIpGk_Y

Questions?