Brucellosis in the Greater Yellowstone Area (1998) / Chapter Skim
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Executive Summary
Executive Summary
Pages 1-9
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In response to public discussion of whether brucellosis transmission by bison or elk (Cervus elaphusJ is a threat to domestic livestock and whether vaccination or other management strategies might prove useful in controlling potential transmission, Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt asked the National Academy of Sciences to undertake a 6-month study of brucellosis in the GYA. The Board on Agriculture and the Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology began the study in May 1997 to look specifically at the following issues:
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the use of sanitary procedures (such as pasteurization) in milk processing; human infection that does occur today generally is among people who hancIle infected tissues, such as veterinary workers and hunters.
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Animals are tested for brucellosis using serologic tests (blood tests to detect that antibodies are present as a result of an infection) and bacterial cultures (where bacteria from tissue samples are grown uncier laboratory conditions)
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Although high serologic responses correlate well with bacterial cultures in bison, the relationship between serologic tests and bacterial culture is difficult to ascertain, because quantitative assessments to examine the relationships have not been done. A substantial part ofthe differences in GYA bison between the high percent of seropositivity and the much lower percent of positive bacterial results most likely is due to culture or sampling techniques.
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abortus from elk to cattle is unlikely in a natural setting, because elk usually avoid areas used by cattle and isolate themselves for birth, but elk are capable oftransmitting the bacteria to cattle. If cattle in the GYA mingled with aborting elk on the feeding grounds (which are maintained to promote herd growth for recreational hunting, to keep elk from straying where cattle are present, and to prevent damage to private hay crops)
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But an expanding bison population searching for forage is the fundamental force pushing bison out of YNP, and the bison population will continue to increase over several years until a high population combined with a harsh winter reduces the population again. (In contrast, northernherd elk are fluctuating about a dynamic equilibrium in response to the local foocI-resource carrying capacity, as well as winter stress conditions.)
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Total eradication of brucellosis as a goal is more a statement of principle than a workable program at present; neither sufficient information nor technical capability is available to implement a brucellosis-eradication program in the GYA. No good vaccine orvaccine cielive~y mechanism is available at present-itwould be impossible to vaccinate all GYA elk, and attempts to vaccinate bison (for example, by rounding them up)
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Such a plan might include collection and analyses of data from commercial bison herd vaccination programs that are under way, expansion of current experimental research on characterization of candidate vaccines in bison, and development of a field vaccination study of bison that are inside the GYA, but outside YNP. The steps beyonc!
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If public opinion and political directions are aligned to a common goal, and if long-term commitments can be made by the fecleral departments and agencies involved, it is likely that brucellosis can be eliminated from YNP without loss of large numbers of bison or loss of genetic diversity. To be successful, society ant!
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