Bovine TB suspected in Grant County dairy cow

OLYMPIA — A cow from a Grant County dairy, suspected of having had bovine tuberculosis, was sent to slaughter earlier this month, according to state agriculture officials late Thursday.

Bovine TB has not been seen in Washington cattle since 1988, according to a state Department of Agriculture press release.

State health officials said there is no immediate human health concern connected to the suspected bovine TB case. The meat from the cow has been destroyed and will not enter food channels.

WSDA officials are currently investigating the suspected case.

According to the WSDA, the cow was pulled from a Grant County dairy herd and transported to a Cowlitz County facility for slaughter on Jan. 8. There, a U.S. Department of Agriculture food safety inspector noticed a suspicious lesion on the cow.

A sample was sent to the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Iowa for testing, The Iowa lab reported earlier this week that the sample was consistent with bovine TB.

WSDA officials have blocked the dairy from moving any cows and directed that all milk it produces be pasteurized, according to the press release.

WSDA and USDA officials are working on tracing the disease.

The dairy was not identified.

Read the full story in Monday's print edition of the Columbia Basin Herald.

— Staff report