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[1] Kinney County: cervid
[2] Edwards County: cervid, human, suspected
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[1] Kinney County: cervid
Date: Thu 12 Aug 2010
From: Martin Hugh-Jones
On Fri 6 Aug 2010, the TVMDL [Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic
Laboratories] at College Station confirmed anthrax in a white tail deer in
from a ranch near Brackettville, Kinney County. On Mon 9 Aug 2010 I spoke
with the veterinarian who had submitted the spleen from a dead deer brought
in by one of his clients. The ranch is nearby with 2000 acres [809 ha] and
an 8 ft [2.5 m] fence. The animal was freshly dead. How many others were
affected is unclear but it would not have been singular as such pens are
routinely overstocked.
The veterinarian said that he had seen typically affected dead deer on
another ranch, also 2000 acres and high fenced but with exotic deer, which
is on the road between Bracketville and his home, clearly not too far out
of town.
--
Martin Hugh-Jones
ProMED-mail Animal Disease Moderator
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[2] Edwards County: cervid, human, suspected
Date: Thu 12 Aug 2010
From: Martin Hugh-Jones
Yesterday morning, 11 Aug 2010, I had a call from a very sick cowboy who
was sitting in the Walmart parking lot in Dell Rio waiting to pick up his
prescription of doxycycline. He was worried and had been given my name. 4
weeks before he had shot an axis deer on an exotics ranch in Carta Valley
and skinned it. 10 days later he developed a vesicle on his right forearm;
the arm became inflamed, swollen, and painful; he was groggy and "sick";
and latterly a gland was painfully enlarged on the right side of his neck.
The original lesion wasn't painful but itched, and had begun to ulcerate.
He had gone to the emergency room at the town hospital but they sent him on
his way after taking a blood sample. I told him to pick up his prescription
immediately, start taking the pills, and go see his family doctor. From
what he said it was to me a presumptive cutaneous anthrax.
He said that he is a ranch hand on the Carta Valley ranch and that there
are plenty of biting flies on the ranch. It is a 2000 acre [809 ha] high
fenced ranch with exotic deer. As many as possible of these expensive
animals had been vaccinated earlier this year [2010]. The axis deer he
skinned had not appeared to be ill when shot. So if it is anthrax -- his
family doctor is "running tests" but is reluctant to put him on
ciprofloxacin until he has laboratory confirmation because of the risks
involved with that drug -- he would have got it from a fly bite from
sick/dead stock elsewhere in the valley.
We were out there 3 weeks ago visiting with ranchers and on various
wildlife ranches to the east and west of Carta Valley, sampling and GPSing
the dead deer and other species. Some mildly affected, others severely.
Some of these ranchers have expensive tastes in what they stock their
ranches with, whether or not the species are ecologically appropriate. From
what we were told and not told I suspect that some 20 deer and exotic
ranches in eastern Val Verde, Kinney, Edwards, and western Uvalde counties
have suffered anthrax cases this summer [2010] so far. A not untypical
scenario for the western half of the Edwards Plateau.
--
Martin Hugh-Jones
ProMED-mail Animal Disease Moderator
[The state of Texas can be found on the HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive
map at
the map of the state at
Plateau can be seen on the map at
[see also:
Anthrax, livestock, wildlife - USA: (TX) 20100702.2204
2009
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Anthrax, bovine - USA (03): (TX), cervid 20090817.2910
Anthrax, bovine - USA (02): (TX) 20090815.2894
2008
---
Anthrax, caprine - USA: (TX) (02) A4 GENOTYPE 20080502.1514
Anthrax, caprine - USA (TX) 20080404.1234
2007
---
Anthrax, livestock - USA (TX): equine 20070815.2661
Anthrax, bovine, wildlife - USA (TX) 20070713.2246
2006
---
Anthrax, bovine - USA (TX) (02) 20060922.2705
Anthrax, bovine - USA (TX) 20060921.2699
Anthrax, deer - USA (TX)(03): bull affected 20060726.2057
Anthrax, deer - USA (TX)(02): susp. 20060720.1994
Anthrax, deer - USA (TX) 20060710.1891
2005
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Anthrax, cervidae, livestock - USA (TX) 20050709.1944
2004
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Anthrax, bovine, deer - USA (TX) (02) 20040829.2415
Anthrax, bovine, deer - USA (TX) 20040812.2231]
.................mhj/mj/sh
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