Special Report

Paratuberculosis (Johne’s disease) is caused byMycobacterium paratuberculosis (also known as Mycobacterium avium subsp paratuberculosis). It is a prevalent and economically important disease that affects cattle and impacts the cattle industry.2-4 In the past 5 years, special funding from Congress has pro-vided the USDA–Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service–Veterinary Services with more than $70 million to help combat this infectious dis-ease. Most of that money has been allocated to states to strengthen their paratuberculosis control pro-grams and assist herd owners with the cost of risk assessments for herds, management changes, and diagnostic testing. The past decade has witnessed the development and commercialization of multiple accurate and cost