Bovine TB cases climb to 6 in Alberta, CFIA says

The number of cases of bovinetuberculosis has climbed to six, while a quarantine has expanded to 36 farms in Alberta andSaskatchewan, theCanadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) said Friday.

The disease first surfaced in a single cow flagged by the United States Food Inspection Agency (USDA) in late September.

The cow was from a ranch near Jenner, Alta., about 100 kilometres north of Medicine Hat.

On Friday, the CFIAreported five additional cases from the same herd.

Penny Greenwood, national manager with the agency, says there could be more.

"We are in the process of doing a risk assessment that will determine whether or not there are additional herds that need to be declared infected because the finding of additional positives demonstrates to us that there has been transmission from animal to animal,"Greenwood said.

The agency also announced that a quarantine has been expanded to 34 farms insouthern Alberta and two insouthwest Saskatchewan.

That's an increase from the 30 farms placed underquarantine bylate October.

When a ranch is under quarantine, none of the herd can be moved from the ranch, even if some of the animals werepreviously committed to be sold.

The situationhas caught ranchers off guard, considering there has not been a case of bovine TB in Canada since 2011.

The Alberta Beef Producers has called the situation "devastating" to the industry.

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