ALTUS – Morgan Vance, chief of communications for the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry told Southwest Ledger that only the one case of anthrax had been confirmed in Jackson County two months ago.
“Increased anthrax testing was conducted in southwest Oklahoma due to concern of the disease; however, no other confirmations for anthrax in that area of anywhere else in the state (were reported),” Vance said.
Any cow found “acutely dead” this summer was tested for anthrax, she said, “even if the suspicion was nil.”
“No additional cases were found on the premises where the positive animal resided,” Vance added. “Cases in Texas have also subsided.”
CONFIRMATION ACROSS RED RIVER
Justin Gilliam, an extension agent with Texas A&M’s AgriLife Hardeman County Extension Office in Quanah, Texas, said that they have been closely monitoring cattle herds in the county since the discovery of the anthrax-affected cow died there in August. The agents, he said, who performed the necropsy, have been on antibiotics since performing the examination and have been deemed unaffected by anthrax exposure.