During the summer of 2018 five Michigan Department of Natural Resources workers at the Wildlife Disease Laboratory in East Lansing were diagnosed with tuberculosis. The lab is located within the Michigan State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, where workers tested close to 36,000 white-tailed deer carcasses for diseases in 2018.

The MDNR has confirmed, through outside inquiries, that the five lab workers have been diagnosed with what is known as “latent” TB, a condition where the bacteria can remain inactive in the human body without any symptoms, and is not contagious. The workers were treated with antibiotics for several months, and hundreds of other DNR staffers and volunteers were also provided the opportunity to be tested. 

Since 2015, the lab has been handling ever-increasing volumes of whitetail carcasses to test for chronic wasting disease and bovine tuberculosis, and according to the inquiry, the state believes the TB cases were contracted from deer in the lab with bovine TB. It’s unclear whether the positive cases stemmed from human error due to the increased workload on the employees, but these cases are the first in 25 years of testing for bovine TB in deer in the lab.

Bovine TB affects cattle and deer, and the northeastern area of Lower Michigan has an unusually high number of cases in both animals. Transmission of the bacteria from cattle and deer to humans continues to be exceptionally rare.

MDNR staff at the lab are routinely tested for the TB bacteria, among a multitude of other health and safety precautions. TB is an infectious disease that mainly affects the lungs and causes coughing, chest pains, fever, fatigue, and can sometimes move to the kidneys, spine and brain. It is spread through the air via sneezing and coughing. Due to modern health care, it is highly uncommon, and antibiotic treatment of six to nine months can defeat the bacteria. 

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