Cynthia Baldwin serves on Brucellosis Panel

Brucellosis is a highly contagious disease of cattle and wild ungulates such as bison, elk and deer that causes late-term abortion or premature calving. Although federal and state regulations have helped to control the disease, it is still a threat on lands surrounding Yellowstone National Park, where cattle ranchers feel the wild bison and elk represent a reservoir of the disease that is a threat to their livelihoods.

This year, Baldwin and her committee colleagues are comprehensively reviewing and evaluating the available scientific literature and other information about the prevalence and spread of Brucella abortus in the area in wild and domestic animals and examining the feasibility, required time and cost-effectiveness of options to contain or suppress the disease.

Baldwin and the committee spent three days in September touring the Yellowstone area with wildlife biologists and other experts and at public hearings in Jackson Hole, Wyo. They also spent a day this month at public hearings in Washington, D.C. The panel also held public presentations and hearings in June in Bozeman, Mont.

Baldwin says of the Yellowstone field trip, “We spent a day getting a sense of the terrain where bison and elk move in and out of the national park across a vast territory and how they physically relate to the land. In snowy winter, they move out of the park into the valleys where they come into contact with cattle.”

She adds, “We are reviewing an enormous amount of data. The overall goal is to study whether it is possible to improve the situation there or prevent it from getting worse. It is a very complex one at the intersection of wild animals and domestic cattle.”

The academy’s study committee members are investigating factors associated with the increased occurrence of Brucella transmission from wildlife to livestock and the recent expansion of Brucella in elk, including whether evidence suggests that Brucella is self-sustaining in elk or if reinfection through emigration from feeding grounds is occurring. The study will also explore the role of feeding grounds, predators such as wolves, wildlife population sizes and other factors in facilitating Brucella infection.

In addition, study committee members are examining disease management activities and vaccination strategies in use or being considered at the state, regional and federal level, and evaluating the biological, animal health and public health effects of those activities. They are also looking at the current state of Brucella vaccine, vaccine delivery systems and vaccines under development for bison, cattle and elk, as well as the effectiveness of currently available vaccination protocols. In the course of their review, they will explore the likelihood of developing more effective vaccines, delivery systems and diagnostic protocols for cattle, bison and elk.

Baldwin says the committee’s meetings with wildlife managers, animal health officials, land managers, native peoples and other stakeholders have been fascinating. In this way, she and colleagues are hearing about the many different societal and economic costs and benefits of implementing various measures to reduce or eliminate the risk of Brucella transmission to cattle and within wildlife. They are also considering how those factors relate to the costs and benefits of allowing Brucella to persist in the area and the logistical concerns of controlling disease in wildlife populations.

- from UMass Amherst News & Media Relations November 18, 2015