Bovine TB alert shuts down 28 Canadian farms

MONTREAL (AFP) — A case of bovine tuberculosis was discovered on a farm in western Canada, prompting 28 farms to go under quarantine as authorities try to determine if the disease has spread, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Saturday.

Twenty-two farms in Alberta and six in British Columbia have been placed under quarantine and around 400 animals are expected to be slaughtered, spokeswoman Maria Koller-Jones told AFP.

The infected cow was discovered at a farm in British Columbia but so far no other cases have been confirmed, she said.

"One of the (farms) quarantined is because we have found tuberculosis on the farm, and that's one of the quarantined in British Columbia," she said.