No other infected herds have been foundBrucellosis has been confirmed in a Meeteetse area cattle herd where three cattle initially tested positive for the bacterial disease in late October. So far, there is no indication that the disease has spread to surrounding herds in Park County, state Veterinarian Jim Logan said.“Everything else we have results on so far has been negative,” Logan said Wednesday.

Logan said he doesn't expect at this time that the state will lose its brucellosis-free status, although “it's not off the table completely.”

“At this point, there's no indication that there'll be any downgrade in status,” he said Wednesday afternoon. Livestock producers in an area of Wyoming adjacent to Yellowstone National Park, including parts of Park County west of Wyo. 120, are already subject to increased brucellosis surveillance and testing, which will remain in place.

Losing the brucellosis-free status would mean restrictions and expensive testing for Wyoming's cattle industry to keep the disease from spreading.

If brucellosis is limited to the herd where it has been confirmed, Logan said, cattle from that herd will probably be retested several times, in early December and January and again when the cows finish calving.

He expects epidemiological testing, which may determine the source of the infection, to be complete by the end of November.

Brucellosis can cause spontaneous abortions, infertility, decreased milk production and weight loss in cattle, elk, bison and other mammals. It persists in herds of wild elk and bison around Yellowstone National Park and has periodically passed to cattle in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.

Wyoming last had a confirmed case of brucellosis in a cattle herd just over two years ago in Sublette County. Bison in a herd belonging to Ted Turner near Bozeman, Mont., tested positive for the disease earlier this month.

A dozen herds altogether have been quarantined in Park County since Oct. 26, after initial testing indicated brucellosis in three cows, Logan said. Those three cows, along with a fourth that later tested positive, have been slaughtered.

State law prohibits state officials from identifying the livestock owner.

So far, about 1,800 cattle in eight herds have been tested with another 1,700 head scheduled to be tested. Officials expect to be done testing by next Monday.

Logan said he believes the last case of livestock brucellosis in Park County occurred in the late 1970s or early 1980s. Park County borders Montana, but Logan said he's not aware of any cattle from Montana intermingling with the quarantined Wyoming herds.

While four cows from the herd with the disease have been slaughtered, the rest of the herd will remain under quarantine for about a year, he said.

“They'll have to go through a series of testing before the quarantine can be released,” Logan said. “As long as we don't find additional animals on subsequent tests, certainly the hope is that we'll be able to test him out and there wouldn't have to be a depopulation or anything, just a series of tests.”

The surrounding herds will be released from quarantine sooner as long as no more cases are found, he said.