Brucellosis is primarily a livestock disease, but many elk and bison in western Wyoming are believed to be infected with the disease. The Greater Yellowstone Area contains the nation's last large reservoir of the disease.
Brucellosis can cause cows to abort their first calf and in rare instances can cause undulant fever in humans who drink unpasteurized milk or dairy products.
The disease is transmitted among wildlife and to cattle through the ingestion of fetal fluids and other birth materials.
An outbreak of the disease in a Sublette County cattle herd in November and in two other herds a few months later led to the loss of the state's federal brucellosis-free status.
The outbreaks also imposed costly and laborious testing regulations for Wyoming cattle producers who sell or move their livestock out of state.
Gov. Dave Freudenthal appointed a 19-member task force in February to formulate long and short-term solutions to Wyoming's brucellosis problems.
The group is expected to make a final report with its management recommendations to the governor in November. The task force will next meet Aug. 26-27 in Lander.
