DIVISION OF ANIMAL HEALTH 

 Mabel A. Owen, Director 



Since the control and/or eradication of major domestic animal diseases 

 is the goal and purpose of the Division of Animal Health, our success 

 directly affects the prices we pay for food, clothing, and our own good 

 health. Caught between the horns of inflation and transportation, farmers 

 must rely on efficient disease control if they are to produce the food we 

 need. This is an important area, one in which the government profits both 

 the producer and the consumer. 



In past years, this Division has functioned with four Veterinary 

 Health Officers, ten Animal/Poultry Inspectors and an office staff of 

 fourteen. Retirements, hiring freezes and a reduction in positions have 

 left us with a working complement of fifteen. Although we have been 

 fortunate to have had help from USDA-APHIS and to have had no important 

 new disease outbreak, our resources are at this point, strained far beyond 

 the safety point . 



BRUCELLOSIS 



This disease in both cattle and swine affects human health in the form of 

 Undulant Fever. Its total eradication in Massachusetts is within our grasp. 

 A very large loose-housed and chronically infected herd was removed from 

 quarantine this year and has remained disease-free for more than three months. 

 Two small herds came up infected. One was depopulated and infection brought 

 swiftly under control in the second. We confidently hope to be disease-free 

 in bovine brucellosis within calendar 1981. Well over half of the State 

 is also disease-free in swine brucellosis. Since we are now the only New 

 England State with a problem in this area, we have given its eradication 

 high priority. Failure to pass a particular piece of legislation continues 

 to hamper our efforts with swine brucellosis. 



TUBERCULOSIS 



Another disease with high human-health impact, tuberculosis, is 

 resurgent in the world^particularly in its cities. Eradication remains a 

 continuing program; laxity will guarantee a problem. Our dairy herds are 

 currently on a three year testing rotation, with a number tested oftener. 

 A total of just under 43,000 animals (in over 800 herds) were tested with 

 no reactors revealed. This is one of our two highest priority programs, one for 

 which our low field staffing can cause problems. We require two more years 

 of complete freedom from this disease in order to qualify as a tuberculosis-free 

 state. This rating would mean a great deal to our farmer-producers as well as 

 to all of New England. Few people realize the incidence of disease, in 

 particular Tuberculosis and Brucellosis, is lower in the Northeast than in any 

 other portion of the country, but constant surveillance will be necessary to 

 maintain a desirable position. 



HOG CHOLERA AND RELATED DISEASES 



The entire nation has been free of this disease for two years, but since 

 it is endemic in neighboring countries, constant effort is expended in prevention. 



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