explanation required

[PBHunter]

Originally Posted by riden

Can you eat a sick animal?

Personally, the whole thing turns me off completely. I live where I could hunt these herds in the winter if i wanted to. But, I just don't see how it is worth it.

Tuberculosis - aerosol transmission, obtained by breathing in infecitous bacteria from an infected animal/person - can be transmitted through milk, is not food -bourne ( ie you can't get from eating meat)

Brucellosis - transmission from contaminated environments, handling infected tissues or eating infected meat / milk cheese products - throughly cooking the meat will kill the bacteria, you are more likely to be exposed / infected when handling the carcass than actually consuming the meat - brucella affect the reporductive tracts in ungulates and transmission mostly around calving so with fall hunting exposure is more limited to humans but still possible

Anthrax - ingestion or contact with "infective spores" - found in tissue and blood of infected animal - not as big of a concern for the bison as it occurs sporadically throughout Alberta in cattle and wildlife - difficult one becuase the anthrax spores survive an extremley long time in soil and such (ie up to decades possibly centuries) and become infective when exposed to air - not a huge concern because animals infected with anthrax die rather quickley so you'd have to be pretty unlucky to kill an animal hunting that is infected with anthrax and thereby infect yourself

On a side noted - a type of Brucellosis is also endemic in caribou, alot of people handle and eat caribou carcasses without becoming infected with Brucellosis and the type of Brucellosis in caribou usually causes a much more serious disease in people than the type found in the bison ...

[PBHunter]

I might not be accurate on this, but I believe at one point there was a plan to eradicate the bison herd in Wood Buffalo because of the pressence of Brucellosis / tuberculosis ... and the implications on the cattle industry and Canada's stauts as a 'brucellosis free" cattle exporting country. I think the bison hunt over in the zama area was partially implemented to help prevent expansion of their range and intermingly with the wood buffalo herd, helping to contain the possible spread of brucellosis /TB ... could be very wrong on this.

[riden]

Thanks PB

[vcool]

not to derail.. but how does one find one of these sask reserve hunts? any websites you could reccommend?

[Big Daddy Badger]

Originally Posted by PBHunter

Tuberculosis - aerosol transmission, obtained by breathing in infecitous bacteria from an infected animal/person - can be transmitted through milk, is not food -bourne ( ie you can't get from eating meat)

WRONG.

You absolutely CAN get TB from handling or eating meat from an infected animal and TB is not only confined to the respiratory system.
However unlikely it remains a possibility and people need to be aware of that so they can reduce risk.

At the least wear gloves, discard any quarter that is found with nodes or cysts within it and cook the meat thoroughly.
If I found any nodes that looked like they might be TB...I'd be very careful examining the rest of the carcass for more.

[PBHunter]

[QUOTE=pesky672;1526435]WRONG.

You absolutely CAN get TB from handling or eating meat from an infected animal and TB is not only confined to the respiratory system.
However unlikely it remains a possibility and people need to be aware of that so they can reduce risk.QUOTE]

True, but not absolutely
For Both Mammals and Birds:

Tb bacteria are very rarely found in meat (muscle tissue).

As a precaution, however, all meats, including hunter-harvested deer, should be thoroughly cooked to an internal temperature of 74 ºC (165 º F) to kill bacteria .

If the lungs, ribcage or internal organs from wild ungulates look abnormal (multiple tan or yellow lumps), THe meat should not be eaten and the nearest Health Authority contacted (see contact list).

It is unlikely that a person field-dressing or eating meat of an animal infected with bovine Tb could become infected. Nonetheless, hunters should practice sanitary precautions, including washing after field-dressing an animal.

Hunters that suspect their kill of being infected SHOULD NOT EAT THE MEAT and should contact their provincial or federal agencies (see contact list).

Dogs and cats should not be allowed to roam freely where they could feed on carcasses or gut piles of infected deer.

Pathogenesis

During the first half of the 20th century, M. bovis is estimated to have been responsible for more losses among farm animals than all other infectious diseases combined. Infection occurs if the bacterium is ingested.[citation needed]

M. bovis is usually transmitted to humans via infected milk, although it can also spread via aerosol droplets. Actual infections in humans are rare, mostly due to pasteurisation killing any bacteria in infected milk; also, cattle are randomly tested for the disease and immediately culled if infected, but can still be used for human consumption. However, in areas of the developing world where pasteurisation is not routine, M. bovis is a relatively common cause of human tuberculosis.[3]

Bovine TB is a chronic infectious disease which affects a broad range of mammalian hosts, including humans, cattle, deer, llamas, pigs, domestic cats, wild carnivores (fox, coyotes) and omnivores (possums, mustelids and rodents); it rarely affects equids or sheep.[4][5] The disease can be transmitted in several ways; for example, badgers excrete M. bovis in exhaled air, sputum, urine, faeces and pus, so the disease can be transmitted by direct contact, contact with the excreta of an infected animal, or inhalation of aerosols, depending on the species involved.

United States of America

In the United States, M. bovis is endemic in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in the northeastern portion of Michigan and northern Minnesota, and sporadic import of the disease from Mexico. The white-tailed deer has been confirmed as the sole maintenance host in the Michigan outbreak of bovine tuberculosis, which remains a significant barrier to the US nationwide eradication of the disease in livestock. In 2008, 733,998 licensed deer hunters harvested approximately 489,922 white-tailed deer in attempts to control the disease spread. These hunters purchased more than 1.5 million deer harvest tags. The economic value of deer hunting to Michigan’s economy in the drive to eradicate TB is substantial. For example, in 2006, hunters spent US$507 million hunting white-tailed deer in Michigan.[26]

The bacteria found in the bison is M. bovis , not M. tuberculosis, guess I should have said it is unlikely you will get TB from eating the meat instead of "can't"

[PBHunter]

Originally Posted by pesky672

WRONG.

At the least wear gloves, discard any quarter that is found with nodes or cysts within it and cook the meat thoroughly.
If I found any nodes that looked like they might be TB...I'd be very careful examining the rest of the carcass for more.

Absolutley ... great advice. A face mask would be a good idea as well.

[Big Daddy Badger]

[QUOTE=PBHunter;1526484]

Originally Posted by pesky672

WRONG.

You absolutely CAN get TB from handling or eating meat from an infected animal and TB is not only confined to the respiratory system.
However unlikely it remains a possibility and people need to be aware of that so they can reduce risk.QUOTE]

True, but not absolutely
For Both Mammals and Birds:

Tb bacteria are very rarely found in meat (muscle tissue).

As a precaution, however, all meats, including hunter-harvested deer, should be thoroughly cooked to an internal temperature of 74 ºC (165 º F) to kill bacteria .

If the lungs, ribcage or internal organs from wild ungulates look abnormal (multiple tan or yellow lumps), THe meat should not be eaten and the nearest Health Authority contacted (see contact list).

It is unlikely that a person field-dressing or eating meat of an animal infected with bovine Tb could become infected. Nonetheless, hunters should practice sanitary precautions, including washing after field-dressing an animal.

Hunters that suspect their kill of being infected SHOULD NOT EAT THE MEAT and should contact their provincial or federal agencies (see contact list).

Dogs and cats should not be allowed to roam freely where they could feed on carcasses or gut piles of infected deer.

Pathogenesis

During the first half of the 20th century, M. bovis is estimated to have been responsible for more losses among farm animals than all other infectious diseases combined. Infection occurs if the bacterium is ingested.[citation needed]

M. bovis is usually transmitted to humans via infected milk, although it can also spread via aerosol droplets. Actual infections in humans are rare, mostly due to pasteurisation killing any bacteria in infected milk; also, cattle are randomly tested for the disease and immediately culled if infected, but can still be used for human consumption. However, in areas of the developing world where pasteurisation is not routine, M. bovis is a relatively common cause of human tuberculosis.[3]

Bovine TB is a chronic infectious disease which affects a broad range of mammalian hosts, including humans, cattle, deer, llamas, pigs, domestic cats, wild carnivores (fox, coyotes) and omnivores (possums, mustelids and rodents); it rarely affects equids or sheep.[4][5] The disease can be transmitted in several ways; for example, badgers excrete M. bovis in exhaled air, sputum, urine, faeces and pus, so the disease can be transmitted by direct contact, contact with the excreta of an infected animal, or inhalation of aerosols, depending on the species involved.

United States of America

In the United States, M. bovis is endemic in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in the northeastern portion of Michigan and northern Minnesota, and sporadic import of the disease from Mexico. The white-tailed deer has been confirmed as the sole maintenance host in the Michigan outbreak of bovine tuberculosis, which remains a significant barrier to the US nationwide eradication of the disease in livestock. In 2008, 733,998 licensed deer hunters harvested approximately 489,922 white-tailed deer in attempts to control the disease spread. These hunters purchased more than 1.5 million deer harvest tags. The economic value of deer hunting to Michigan’s economy in the drive to eradicate TB is substantial. For example, in 2006, hunters spent US$507 million hunting white-tailed deer in Michigan.[26]

The bacteria found in the bison is M. bovis , not M. tuberculosis, guess I should have said it is unlikely you will get TB from eating the meat instead of "can't"

As always the devil is in the details

Good info by the way.

I honestly wouldn't worry too much about it but that is because I have some experience in meat inspection and know what precautions to take along with the relative risk.
Now... more people have the information needed to take reasonable precautions and thats a win win.

[PBHunter]

[QUOTE=pesky672;1526514]

Originally Posted by PBHunter

As always the devil is in the details

Good info by the way.

I honestly wouldn't worry too much about it but that is because I have some experience in meat inspection and know what precautions to take along with the relative risk.
Now... more people have the information needed to take reasonable precautions and thats a win win.

Always better safe than sorry ;p , btw I have some surgical masks and latex gloves for sale ... special deal for all those that read this post, just in time for the fall deer / bison season

[walking buffalo]

The greatest risk in contracting TB, Brucellosis or Anthrax is not after you have butched the animal, it is when you field dress it.


Ask the researchers ( Plural) who have become sick and nearly died after handling Alberta Bison if the risk is considerable.

[PBHunter]

Originally Posted by walking buffalo

The greatest risk in contracting TB, Brucellosis or Anthrax is not after you have butched the animal, it is when you field dress it.


Ask the researchers ( Plural) who have become sick and nearly died after handling Alberta Bison if the risk is considerable.

Very true ... were these researchers imobilizing and handling live animals or were they performing necropsies on "found dead animals"? And of course people working with / around animals are going to have a higher risk of zoonotic disease ... occupational hazzard.