Disease

Tuberculosis Outbreak in Alabama, USA

A total of 151 patients have been diagnosed with Latent Tuberculosis Infection (LTBI) in Alabama, and are currently being treated with preventive medication.

Gov. Robert Bentley on Friday announced the authorization of more than $235,000 in emergency funding toward the response effort for a tuberculosis outbreak in Perry County.

“We are dealing with a very aggressive TB outbreak in Perry County, and it is important that the Alabama Department of Public Health have all available resources to help treat and mitigate this disease,” Bentley said.

Disease

TB in Los Angeles, California, USA

Los Angeles County health officials have asked for federal assistance to analyze and contain an outbreak of tuberculosis within the city's homeless population.

The Los Angeles Times reported that health workers have identified about 4,650 people who were probably exposed to a persistent outbreak of the contagious disease on downtown Los Angeles' skid row.

The newspaper said that county officials have identified 78 cases of a unique strain of the contagious disease, including 11 deaths. Sixty of those cases were homeless individuals living in the skid row area.

Wildlife

A plan to cull thousands of wild badgers to stem the spread of tuberculosis in cattle is sharply dividing rural England. Marksmen could start the cull any day but details are being kept secret for fear of clashes between farmers determined to protect their livestock and livelihoods and activists who have pledged to foil the plan by scaring away the badgers.

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Conservationists on Thursday asked a state judge to end trapping of wolverines in Montana, USA at a time when fewer than 300 of the elusive animals roam the Northern Rockies and Northern Cascades.

Montana is the only one of the lower 48 U.S. states that permits the harvesting of wolverines, carnivores that resemble small bears with bushy tails. They are sought for their fur.