ST. PAUL -- Minnesota is preparing to expand its surveillance for bovine tuberculosis after a wild deer killed in Roseau County tested "presumptive positive" for the disease, officials said.
The state Board of Animal Health is working with other state and federal agencies to develop a coordinated response if it's confirmed that the deer had the disease. The test results won't be available for several weeks.
The deer was shot by a hunter near the town of Skime in far northwestern Minnesota, in an area where several cattle herds were diagnosed with bovine TB earlier this year.
The response would include enhancing surveillance and testing, re-certifying veterinarians to test for bovine TB, providing information to the public and expediting the establishment of a National Animal Identification System in Minnesota.
Minnesota has quarantined 43 herds of cattle in its bovine TB investigation since the disease was detected in the first herd in July. Thirty-six of those herds were released from quarantine after testing showed no infections in them. Three herds are still being tested.
