Even before nearly 200 steers were ordered quarantined in Pinal County over a single case of bovine tuberculosis, federal authorities were already reviewing testing procedures with an eye toward more rigorous standards.
A task force from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, began drafting plans to eradicate bovine TB and brucellosis, another serious cattle disease, in September and has been collecting public comment since May.
In addition to testing animals when they are imported, the proposal would require retesting 120 to 180 days after they enter the country. No follow-up tests are currently required at the federal level, but some states require retesting of foreign cattle before they cross state lines.
The proposal could change after the public comment period, which ends July 5, said Lyndsay Cole, a spokeswoman for the inspection service. Cole said the proposal still must go through the regulatory approval process, and no date has been set for when changes would take effect.
Ten days ago, authorities revealed that a rodeo steer, which tested negative for bovine tuberculosis before it crossed the border, retested positive when its owner tried to ship it to New Mexico. The state requires testing before accepting imported cattle, said John Hunt, the acting state veterinarian.
The infected animal was part of a herd of 200 rodeo steers that were imported from Mexico in March.
The animal was destroyed, and the rest of the herd has been quarantined.
Hunt said the most prudent thing to do would be to destroy the rest of the herd to avoid any possible spread of the highly contagious disease.
"We don't think there's any public health concern," Hunt said. "I think we'll get this cleaned up quickly."
Although it is rare for a sick steer to test negative, Hunt said the incident is a reminder that early TB can slip through inspections.
"It's slow to express itself. A lot of times it may take several months before it would show up in the test," Hunt said. "It's not a perfect test."
Cattle can pick up bovine TB from other sick animals by simply touching noses or sharing space with infected animals that cough or sneeze, Hunt said. Although humans can catch the disease from drinking unpasteurized milk, they rarely catch it from working with the animals.
The major concern in the rodeo-steer community is economic, Hunt said.
Meanwhile, the ranching community is relieved that Arizona will not lose its "bovine TB-free" status - a label the state has held since the late 1970s. The designation makes it easier to trade cattle over state lines, said Bas Aja, executive vice president of the Arizona Cattle Feeders' Association.
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