The brucellosis blame game works like this: Cows brought the bug from Europe and gave it to bison; bison infected elk; elk passed it to cows. Everyone has someone to blame n rancher, outfitter, eco-tourist. Worse, rancher blames rancher, as adjacent herds become suspect due to proximity.
It is easy to see brucellosis as a bacteriological bogeyman when the light is low. Misinformation is often at the heart of the blame game. Sunshine n in the form of a vigilant and questioning press and blogosphere n could reduce the emotional and economic toll an outbreak takes on affected ranching and wildlife communities. Debunking assertions that inflame rather than inform may lead to a more fruitful discussion aimed at making living with the disease at low levels tolerable for all species.
n Economic devastation awaits. A livestock lobbyist anticipated the economic impact to Montana cattlemen will be “huge.” Experience suggests the outbreak will prove emotionally tough on the few ranchers directly affected, but hardly catastrophic to the industry. Cattle ranchers in Wyoming and Idaho have survived recent years living by the more-restrictive rules for states tainted by brucellosis. Increased testing cost producers about 1 percent of total production costs per year, as much as
$1.7 million. The state appropriated $1.6 million to offset those costs. Moreover, prices for Wyoming cattle rose in 2005, although several infected herds were detected in ’04. Prices ran well above 2003 prices, when the state was brucellosis free.
For that matter, Texas long-resisted an all-out push against brucellosis, knowing it was exposed to re-infection from Mexico, and that efforts were unlikely to succeed. To anticipate a range economy catastrophe in Montana is to fan the flames of fear.
n Human health risks are substantial. Raising the specter of human infection is a time-honored scare tactic. Yes, by whatever name n Bang’s disease, undulant fever n brucellosis can make people very ill. But it is extremely rare in the U.S., most often striking two identifiable groups of people: Those who eat imported raw milk or young cheese, and researchers who work with the unattenuated bacteria in laboratories.
Since 1986, no more than 150 human cases of brucellosis have been reported in the U.S. annually. Most of those have occurred in states that border Mexico, where raw milk and cheese is popular and available. While the disease was once a risk to veterinarians and ranchers who vaccinated their own herds, a new vaccine used for cattle since 1996 has almost eliminated infection from vaccines. Slaughterhouse and hunter infections are extremely rare. Today, few people are at risk of contracting brucellosis. The risk of getting salmonella from beef is orders of magnitude higher.
n Brucellosis occurs because of Yellowstone’s wildlife reservoir. Wild swine in the south carry a dangerous form of brucellosis. Infected swine pose a risk to Southern pork producers who work outside of a sterile hog factory. Yellowstone wildlife is not the last reservoir of brucella in the U.S.
n The U.S. will get a black eye in the international community. Brucellosis is an Old World disease that challenges many modern agricultural communities, from the Middle East to Central Asia, Africa to South America. Global trade in cattle means the U.S. is perpetually at risk of brucellosis from abroad. This makes eradication of the disease in the U.S. unlikely.
Cattle ranchers visiting from Russia who paused to watch how Montana handles brucellosis in livestock were likely more amazed at the access the press has to information about an outbreak than they are surprised that brucellosis infects cattle. During the Cold War, the U.S. and Russia engaged in a race to weaponize brucella. Information about the pathogen has been restricted in many former Soviet states.
Ranchers from other countries, particularly the many places the disease is endemic, are eager for information about brucellosis, not surprised or dismayed that we have it, too.
Just as gossip and rumor mongering hurts relationships among individuals, careless fear mongering risks community goodwill and makes solutions all the harder to sort through and accept.
Honest information, about real risk and real pain, can help build more sympathetic and sympathetic relationships among people and animals who live on a range with a host of risks n fire, flood, and yes, disease.
Nadia White is a professor of journalism at the University of Montana. She has covered issues related to brucellosis in Yellowstone since 1994.
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