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1. With bird flu threat expected to linger, USDA begins working on potential vaccine

By Steve Karnowski, The Associated Press

CTVNews.ca

April 22, 2015

MINNEAPOLIS -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture is working on a vaccine to counter a deadly strain of bird flu, as losses to poultry producers mount.

A pure "seed strain" would target the H5N2 virus -- which has already cost Midwest turkey and chicken producers nearly 6.8 million birds since early March -- as well as some other highly pathogenic viruses in the H5 family that have been detected in other parts of North America. If the USDA decides the vaccine is necessary to stop avian influenza, it will provide that seed strain to drug manufacturers.

The process, though, is fraught with questions about which birds would get the vaccine, how it might affect exports and whether it would be effective against the rapidly spreading strain.

Why producers want a vaccine

USDA officials have said the H5N2 virus could be a problem for the poultry industry for several years. The virus had already killed or led authorities to order the culling of nearly 2.3 million turkeys before it was confirmed Monday at an Iowa egg-laying operation with 3.8 million hens. And on Tuesday and Wednesday, five more turkey farms with more than 500,000 birds were added to the list.

The virus could reappear this fall when the wild waterfowl that are believed to carry it fly south for the winter. Another concern is that it could spread to big poultry-producing states in the East.

While government agencies and producers would much rather see tight biosecurity and other current strategies succeed, they want to have another tool available, said Dr. T.J. Myers, an associate deputy administrator for veterinary services with the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

Full text: http://tinyurl.com/mfmhgd5  

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2. Wisconsin confirms 4th and 5th cases of bird flu, including a major egg producer; 13 more Minnesota flocks confirmed

Wheeler News Service and USDA/APHIS Stakeholder Registry Bulletin

WSAU.com

April 22, 2015

MADISON, WI (Wheeler News Service) - Wisconsin has recorded its fourth and fifth cases of the bird flu.

State agriculture officials said Wednesday morning that an H5 avian flu strain has been confirmed in a turkey flock in Chippewa County. It was discovered in a group of 87,000 birds -- all of which will be killed, to prevent the disease from spreading. The site is also being quarantined.

Three other locations in Wisconsin have had avian flu outbreaks over the past week-and-a-half. The others were in Barron, Juneau, and Jefferson counties.

The state Ag Department said over 310,000 birds in the state have been destroyed as a result of the bird flu.

Early this afternoon, Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection Division of Animal Health spokesperson Raechelle Cline announced that a fifth location now has avian flu. It's an egg producing site in Jefferson County. This site alone has over 800,000 chickens that must be destroyed.

Full text:

http://wsau.com/news/articles/2015/apr/22/wisconsin-confirms-4th-case-of-bird-flu/  

See Also:

USDA Confirms More Highly Pathogenic H5N2 Avian Influenza in 13 Flocks in Minnesota

USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Bulletin

April 22, 2015

WASHINGTON - The United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has confirmed the presence of highly pathogenic H5N2 avian influenza (HPAI) in additional 13 flocks in Minnesota.   No human infections with the virus have been detected at this time. CDC considers the risk to people from these HPAI H5 infections in wild birds, backyard flocks and commercial poultry, to be low.

USDA's National Veterinary Services Laboratories confirmed HPAI H5N2 in the following counties and states:

   Otter Tail County, Minnesota (April 22, 2015)

       34,500 turkeys

       2nd detection in this county

   Redwood County, Minnesota (April 22, 2015)

       35,500 turkeys

       2nd detection in this county

   Kandiyohi County, Minnesota (April 22, 2015)

       75,000 turkeys

       9th detection in this county

   Kandiyohi County, Minnesota (April 22, 2015)

       19,100 turkeys

       12th detection in this county*

   Kandiyohi County, Minnesota (April 22, 2015)

       34,500 turkeys

       13th detection in this county

   Kandiyohi County, Minnesota (April 21, 2015)

       61,000 turkeys

       14th detection in this county

   Kandiyohi County, Minnesota (April 21, 2015)

       Turkeys (number pending)

       15th detection in this county

   Stearns County, Minnesota (April 22, 2015)

       28,600 turkeys

       7th detection in this county

   Stearns County, Minnesota (April 22, 2015)

       72,500 turkeys

       8th detection in this county

   Stearns County, Minnesota (April 21, 2015)

       Turkeys (number pending)

       9th detection in this county

   Meeker County, Minnesota (April 22, 2015)

       58,900 turkeys

       4th detection in this county

   Meeker County, Minnesota (April 21, 2015)

       Turkeys (number pending)

       5th detection in this county

   Meeker County, Minnesota (April 21, 2015)

       10,700 turkeys

       6th detection in this county

*Gaps in numbers reflect delays in confirmatory testing of some samples.

Source: http://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDAAPHIS/bulletins/1008951  

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3. US National PED Eradication Far Off

Manitoba Pork Council

ThePigSite.com

April 22, 2015

FarmScape is a Wonderworks Canada production and is distributed courtesy of Manitoba Pork Council

and Sask Pork.

US - Eradication of the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhoea virus (PEDv) across the US is still unlikely, writes Bruce Cochrane.

The executive director of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians Dr Tom Burkgren has said that while producers and veterinarians have demonstrated success in ridding individual swine operations of PED, eradication of the virus on a national scale is still a long way off.

Although losses resulting from PED in the United States have fallen dramatically from one year ago, there is still some circulation of the virus.

Dr Burkgren said that the diligence with which producers and veterinarians have approached biosecurity has really paid off and, anecdotally, the immune status of the US sow herd has improved from one year ago, but full scale eradication is still a long way off.

Full text:

http://www.thepigsite.com/swinenews/39460/us-national-ped-eradication-far-off/  

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4. What You Need to Know About the Current Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Outbreaks

Posted by Dr. John Clifford, USDA Chief Veterinary Officer

USDA Blog

April 22, 2015

Today I had a press call with our USDA partner, Dr. Alicia Fry from CDC and Dr. David Swayne of USDA's Southeast Poultry Research Lab to help get out some important information about the avian influenza event currently occurring in the United States.

Since December 2014, USDA has confirmed cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5 in the Pacific, Central and Mississippi Flyways (migratory paths for birds). The disease has been found in wild birds, as well as in some backyard and commercial poultry flocks.

There are three important things that you need to know about this situation:

   * Our food supply is safe. Food is safe because the United States has the strongest AI surveillance system in the world. We actively look for the disease, educate the public and producers on the most appropriate practices to ensure their health and safety, as well as provide compensation to affected producers to encourage disease reporting.

* The risk to humans is low. No human infections with these viruses have been detected, and the CDC considers the risk to people from these HPAI H5 infections in wild birds, backyard flocks, and commercial poultry to be low.

* USDA will continue to do everything it can to support states and producers. We are coordinating closely with State officials and other Federal departments on rigorous surveillance, reporting, and control efforts. At the same time, USDA will continue to work with Congress to ensure that we are able to provide a much-needed safety net to the poultry producers who are experiencing economic hardships as a result of losses due to the disease.

Along with industry, USDA and its Federal and State partners are responding quickly and decisively to these outbreaks. You can learn more about the situation and USDA's response by listening to a recording of the press conference: http://www.usda.gov/documents/usda-cdc-media-call.mp3.

You too can help by continuing to practice good biosecurity if you own birds. All birds owners, whether commercial producers or backyard enthusiasts, should prevent contact between their birds and wild birds and report sick birds or unusual birds deaths to State/Federal officials, either through their state veterinarian or through USDA's toll-free number at 1-866-536-7593.

Learn more about biosecurity for backyard flocks at http://healthybirds.aphis.usda.gov. More information about USDA avian influenza efforts is available at http://www.usda.gov/avian_influenza.html.

Source: http://tinyurl.com/n9779e9  

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5. USPOULTRY hosts webinar on waterfowl mitigation

Feedstuffs

April 21, 2015

As a further continuation of its Biosecurity Program offerings, the U.S. Poultry & Egg Assn. (USPOULTRY) will host a webinar addressing "ON-Farm Waterfowl Mitigation Practices"* at 1-2:15 p.m. (EDT) on May 13. The webinar is free of charge to USPOULTRY members.

[ *See: http://tinyurl.com/nou3ojj ]

The webinar will feature Shannon Chandler, wildlife disease biologist, and Clint Turnage, wildlife disease biologist, both from the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service's Wildlife Services. Both specialize in disease surveillance pertaining to avian influenza, along with other areas such as plaque and tularemia, feral swine diseases, chronic wasting disease, Escherichia coli, rabies, raccoon roundworm and canine parvovirus.

The "ON-Farm Waterfowl Mitigation Practices" webinar will discuss how producers can reduce congregations of wild birds (mainly waterfowl) on farm premises and methods that farmers can implement to help make farms unattractive to wild birds.

Full text:

http://feedstuffs.com/story-uspoultry-hosts-webinar-waterfowl-mitigation-45-126679  

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6. Texan named dean of K-State Veterinary Medicine College   [edited]

MidwestProducer.com

April 22, 2015

[ Congratulations to Dr. Beckham! ]

MANHATTAN, Kan. - Kansas State University has named Tammy Beckham as its next dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, effective Aug. 2.

Beckham is currently the director of the Institute for Infectious Animal Diseases, or IIAD, a Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence in College Station, Texas. Since 2010, she has led the IIAD's efforts to perform research and develop products to defend the nation from high-consequence foreign animal, emerging and zoonotic diseases.

Beckham also has served as director of the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory, or TVMDL, an agency of the State of Texas and member of the Texas A&M University System. She has provided leadership for TVMDL's two full-service laboratories and two poultry laboratories, and directs one of the highest volume animal diagnostic labs in the country.

"I am excited to welcome Dr. Beckham as the 12th dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine," said April Mason, Kansas State University provost and senior vice president. "She is recognized as an international expert in the diagnosis of foreign animal diseases and will be a tremendous leader to help guide us toward our goal of becoming a Top 50 public research university by 2025."

Beckham is chair of the Foreign and Emerging Disease Committee of the United States Animal Health Association and has served on many committees within animal health and veterinary diagnostic associations throughout the United States.

Full text: http://tinyurl.com/nlzlgcv  

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7. NIFA Releases 2015 VMLRP Shortage Areas Map

NIFA News Release

April 22, 2015

Shortage areas can be found at the link below or through hyperlinks throughout our website, or directly at http://nifa.usda.gov/vmlrp-map?state=All&fy%5Bvalue%5D%5Byear%5D=2015  

Continue to watch our website http://nifa.usda.gov/program/vmlrp over the next month for the Request for Applications (RFA) release with anticipated 45 days open period.

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