MEDICAL

Disease Detection International of Irvine has received approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to manufacture and market a test it has developed to detect a parasite that destroys the livers of cattle.

Thad Morris, president and chief operating officer of the small diagnostic research and development firm, said the bovine liver fluke, which can be fatal, causes lower weight gains in beef cattle and reduced milk production in dairy herds. If an infected cow is slaughtered, Morris said, its liver must be discarded, although its meat can be sold for human consumption.

He said the parasites are carried by snails prevalent in high rainfall areas of the Northeastern and Gulf Coast states, where more than half of the cattle are believed to be infected.

Over the past five years, Morris said, a treatment has been developed to rid cattle of the parasite. What was missing until now, he said, was a way to detect the disease in a live animal. The 10-minute test developed by Disease Detection International can determine, with a drop of blood, whether a cow is infected, he said.