On January 14th, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) confirmed that a wild deer from Antrim County had cultured positive for bovine TB, a slow-growing bacterial disease affecting the respiratory system of deer and livestock. The test results will cause no immediate changes in the state’s TB testing program or the quarantine in Northeast Michigan. However, MDA will begin providing whole-herd, state-paid testing of cattle, bison, goats, and captive deer and elk within a 10-mile radius of the Antrim County deer.

Representatives from MDA, the US Department of Agriculture, MDNR, the Michigan Department of Community Health, and Michigan State University will be on hand to explain more about bovine TB, the state’s efforts to eradicate it from livestock and wildlife, and answer questions.

Since 1997, MDA has conducted more than 50,000 TB tests on cattle and goats from about 1,100 farms in Northeast Michigan. Four beef cattle herds and one captive deer farm have been confirmed as TB-infected. Since 1995, about 281 deer have tested positive for TB, until now all of them within the area east of Interstate 75 and north of Michigan Route 55.