Cow disease rattles Swiss

Around 300 cows are to be culled swissinfo.ch

Swiss authorities are culling an entire herd of 280 cows in the south eastern part of the country, after they were struck down by a rare tropical blood disease.

The incident has brought back memories of BSE or mad cow disease, which decimated the same herd three years ago.

Authorities in canton Graubünden are to put down an entire herd of around 300 cows as a precautionary measure, after 28 cows became contaminated with the disease.

“A large proportion of the cow herd at that farm has been seriously affected,” Katharina Stärk, an epidemiologist with the Swiss veterinary office, told swissinfo. “But although the situation there is grave, for the moment we don’t think it will spread to other farms.”

Preliminary results show that the disease – a bacterial agent called anaplasma – spread through the herd through ticks or mosquitoes, which are unlikely to contaminate other herds, Stärk said.

The disease affects cows’ blood supply, resulting in a severe shortage of red blood cells.

Herd eliminated

Although the condition is treatable, doing so is a lengthy and costly procedure, Stärk explained.

While they are receiving treatment for the condition, cows do not produce milk fit for human consumption. And cows treated successfully continue to be carriers of the agent.

“It’s for these reasons that the cantonal authorities decided to have the entire herd put down,” Stärk said.

Texas fever

It’s still unclear how the Swiss herd became affected by the agent, which is rare in Switzerland but well-known in tropical regions and the United States, where it’s also known as the Texas fever.

Authorities are also checking whether the herd owner could have sold contaminated cattle to other farmers, prior to signs of the disease.

The owner of the herd lost his entire livestock three years ago to BSE. Since that disease was first detected in Switzerland in 1990, there have been 420 cases altogether, with around 12 reported so far in 2002.

swissinfo with agencies

Key facts

300 cows from a single herd are to be put down.
The disease severely affects cows’ blood system.
Experts say other herds are unlikely to be affected.