The University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine received part of a $4.4 million dollar grant to study bacterial infections in farm animals.

The United States Department of Agriculture awarded a research grant that will be distributed among 74 investigators from more than 20 institutions to study Johne’s (pronounced Yo-nee’s) disease in cattle, sheep and goats. The disease is a bacterial infection found in the farm animals producing chronic gastrointestinal inflammation, leading to symptoms that could eventually result in death. Some of the symptoms include chronic diarrhea, weight loss, decreased milk production in cows and reduced fertility. According to a UW release, the disease costs the agriculture industry more than one billion dollars in economic loss each year. The release also stated about 40 percent of American dairy farms and a third of Wisconsin dairy herds are infected by the bacterium that causes Johne’s right now.

Professor Michael T. Collins, whose focus is on better diagnostics tests, said the grants UW receives will go toward four different areas. One focus of the studies is based on the bacteria at a molecular level, another portion of the grant will go towards online and outreach training for veterinarians and a third concentration on the effects of the disease on goats.

“It’s [the] hope that this will foster speedier research,” Collins said of the collaborative efforts. He added UW was the “obvious choice” for receiving part of the grant coordinated through the University of Minnesota, because research of Johne’s has been conducted on campus for years. “We’re America’s dairyland.”

One point of concern brought forward to researchers is the chance the animal’s disease could have human implications. Collins also said researchers in Florida have suggested the correlation between Johne’s disease and Crohn’s disease, an infection affecting the digestive system that, as of now, has no known cure or cause.

Collins said students in his laboratory would be helping in the research.

“They always become active participating in [research] for educational value,” Collins said, adding students will be able to use much of the skills learned in their coursework for future research.