3 ELEPHANT HANDLERS TEST POSITIVE FOR TUBERCULOSIS.

Byline: Amy Collins Daily News Staff Writer

Three elephant handlers at the Los Angeles Zoo have tested positive for exposure to tuberculosis since two elephants there were diagnosed with the disease earlier this year, officials said.

Public health doctors said Friday the exposed animals and humans do not pose a public health threat.

One of the two elephants, Annie, tested positive for the disease after she died in March and another, Calle, tested positive in April when she arrived on loan to the San Francisco Zoo.

The Los Angeles cases were discovered in the year since the U.S. Department of Agriculture began drafting rules on how to protect elephants and handlers from TB, an airborne bacteria that can cause illness and even death.

It is not clear whether new rules could have prevented the handlers in Los Angeles from being exposed. Health officials have been unable to establish if there is a link between the elephants and the affected handlers.

``That's only to say: We don't know,'' said Dr. Shirley Fannin, the director of Disease Control Programs for Los Angeles County.

National testing

The USDA began working on national tuberculosis testing rules for elephants when two Circus Vargas elephants died of the disease in Los Angeles County in August 1996.

Currently, there is no TB testing required by zoos, circuses or elephant dealers. And they are not required to report any active cases to the USDA.

The latest deadline to have the USDA elephant protocol is the end of this year, said veterinarian Wendy Koch, a supervisory animal care specialist for the USDA. When they have protocol they'll ``try to get the population tested and figure out where we are,'' she said.

The problem with identifying the disease in elephants is they're too big and no test is 100 percent accurate.

``We're going to be coming up with a protocol of testing,'' said Koch. ``It still won't be a sure thing, but the best we can come up with.''

Of the four elephants still at the L.A. Zoo, Ruby, Gita and Billy show no signs of the disease, but Tara has tested both positive and negative. As a precaution, all four were put on a precautionary yet unappetizing regimen of antibiotics, each running up a monthly $30,000 tab, said Charles Sedgwick, director of Animal Health Services at the zoo.

After two months of pills, that expensive treatment concluded last week, Sedgwick said.

The three zoo employees tested positive for TB on initial skin tests, but X-rays revealed they do not have active tuberculosis, Sedgwick said. However, all keepers who work with pachyderms or primates are now tested every three months for tuberculosis.

``Because of this public pressure from the animal activists, (the city physician) decided we needed these tests every three months,'' Sedgwick said. The city doctor in charge of the case declined to comment.

Health experts agreed it's difficult to determine if the keepers were exposed to TB by the elephants or by humans.

A positive test for tuberculosis does not mean the disease can be transmitted to another person or animal. But once the disease becomes active, it can be transmitted through the air in confined areas over a long period of time.

Fannin said elephant exhibits - like the ones at the L.A. Zoo - are usually outdoors with plenty of ventilation. ``They do not pose any significant risk to the people looking at them,'' she said.

Of the elephants from the L.A. Zoo, the only one with active TB is Calle, the 30-year-old Asian pachyderm on loan to San Francisco. She was originally sent there to be a companion to the lonely Tinkerbelle, but has been in isolation since she was diagnosed.

Nancy Chan, spokeswoman for the San Francisco Zoo, said Calle may have passed the infectious stage. However, the treatment was just interrupted - to determine if Calle was getting the right dosage via suppository - so the one-year treatment cycle has to start over.

``It's just a process, a long, arduous process you have to go through every day,'' Chan said.

But the treatments won't cure tuberculosis. ``You're always a carrier. (The medication) puts them into remission,'' Chan said.

In the meantime, both Los Angeles County and the USDA are continuing work on the protocol for testing elephants for tuberculosis. The county's chief of Veterinary Public Health, C. Patrick Ryan, said the county would prefer the USDA take the lead since the transport of animals among zoos or traveling circuses calls for a broader jurisdiction.

``Acting on a county-by-county basis, you're not going to get it taken care of,'' Ryan said.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1) Tara, a 31-year-old African elephant at the Los Angeles Zoo who has tested positive for tuberculosis, gets fed by keeper Vicky Lorand.

(2) The Los Angeles Zoo tests Tara regularly for TB. She has tested both positive and negative.

Gus Ruelas/Daily News