Bovine Tuberculosis Prevalence in Deer Unchanged in 2009 Michigan

A total of 31 white-tailed deer tested positive for bovine tuberculosis in 2009, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment announced today.

No elk tested positive for the disease.

In Deer Management Unit 452, the core area of concern, 1.9 percent ofdeer tested for TB were infected, the same percentage as in 2008. Elsewhere in the five-county tuberculosis zone, .4 percent of deertested a positive a slight, but statistically insignificant, increase from .3 in 2008.

No TB-positive deer were found in Iosco or Shiawassee counties, whereinfected deer have been found in the past.

Although the trend continues to show a statistically decreased prevalence of infection since TB was discovered in the deer herd 1995,prevalence is flat over the last five years, said DNRE wildlife veterinarian Dr. Steve Schmitt.

“We’re kind of in a holding pattern,” Schmitt said. “We haven’t been able to gain any ground in the last five years. Unless
we change our strategy, we may maintain the current level of transmission for the foreseeable future.”

In 2009, one captive cervid herd tested positive for TB.

The DNRE is committed to the conservation, protection, management and accessible use of the state’s environment, natural resources and related economic interests for current and future generations.