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United States Department of Agriculture
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

Animal Disease Risk

Last Modified: Aug 14, 2015
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Disease surveillance, eradication, and control programs have achieved significant success over the years in reducing animal disease in the U.S. Yet animal disease remains a reality in the U.S. as illustrated in the following examples.

Click on each example to read how the inability to effectively trace diseased animals can have widespread consequences.


A cow

Cattle - Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)

Group of cows

Cattle - Bovine Tuberculosis


The following case study illustrates how interstate movement complicates disease investigations. Herds involved in the disease outbreak were sourced from at least 33 States.

Bovine Tuberculosis (TB) is a chronic disease seldom apparent until it has reached an advanced stage in cattle. It is caused when bacteria attack the respiratory system. Once relatively common among U.S. cattle, the Bovine Tuberculosis Eradication Program has significantly limited the disease's impact in the U.S.

Incident:

  • Tuberculosis outbreaks occurred in California dairies from May 2002 through June 2004

Investigative Summary:

  • 875,616 cows from 687 herds were tested for TB
  • 13,000 cows were depopulated to contain the outbreaks

Impact:

  • Quarantine of dairy herds cost individual owners as much as $70,000 per month in lost income

A pig

Swine - Psuedorabies Virus

Chickens

Poultry - Exotic Newcastle Disease (END)

A horse

Equine - Equine Viral Arteritis (EVA)

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