Five Michigan DNR workers contracted tuberculosis, likely from testing deer, The Bridge, March 2020
The Department of Natural Resources confirmed the TB cases in response to inquiries from Bridge Magazine this week. The infected workers have undergone several months of antibiotic treatment, and hundreds of other DNR employees were offered testing.
The outbreak, the first of its kind at the 10-person lab, was diagnosed last summer. Workers at the lab were conducting tests on thousands of deer in search of chronic wasting disease and bovine tuberculosis, which is commonly found in cattle but also in deer and other animals.
Michigan hunters warned about catching tuberculosis from deer, Detroit Free Press, Oct 1, 2019
In Michigan, the deer in a four-county region of the northern Lower Peninsula: Alcona, Montmorency, Oscoda and Alpena are most likely to carry the infection. A small percentage of white-tailed deer from other parts of the state also have been found to carry the disease.