|
* * * * * * * * * *
1. Grass Plants Can Transport Infectious Prions
Source Newsroom: University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Newswise
May 15, 2015
HOUSTON - Grass plants can bind, uptake and transport infectious prions, according to researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth). The research was published online in the latest issue of Cell Reports.
Prions are the protein-based infectious agents responsible for a group of diseases called transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, which includes bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease) in cattle, scrapie in sheep, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans and chronic wasting disease (CWD) in deer, elk and moose. All are fatal brain diseases with incubation periods that last years.
CWD, first diagnosed in mule deer in Colorado in the late 1960s, has spread across the country into 22 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including the counties of El Paso and Hudspeth in Texas. In northeastern Colorado and southeastern Wyoming, the disease is endemic. Soto's team sought to find out why.
"There is no proof of transmission from wild animals and plants to humans," said lead author Claudio Soto, Ph.D., professor of neurology at UTHealth Medical School and director of the UTHealth George and Cynthia W. Mitchell Center for Alzheimer's Disease and Other Brain Related Illnesses. "But it's a possibility that needs to be explored and people need to be aware of it. Prions have a long incubation period."
Full text:
http://www.newswise.com/articles/uthealth-research-grass-plants-can-transport-infectious-prions
********
|
|
2. Kane County, Utah, VS Quarantines Lifted
By Edited Press Release
TheHorse.com
May 18, 2015
The Utah Department of Agriculture and Food announced May 15 that all fourteen horses and the facilities that were placed under quarantine following a confirmed case of vesicular stomatitis (VS) was found in a mule at an event in southern Utah on May 1 have been released.
"There are no further cases under investigation," said Warren Hess, DVM, acting Utah state veterinarian.
Hess said that nine of the animals never showed signs of disease, and five of them were released from quarantine on May 11. The remaining four horses that were not infected, as well as the five horses that were infected, were inspected and released from quarantine on May 14, officially ending the VS quarantine in that state.
Full text:
http://www.thehorse.com/articles/35810/kane-county-utah-vs-quarantines-lifted
********
|
|
3. Bird flu costs $300M in Minnesota, report says
Jon Collins
Minnesota Public Radio News
May 18, 2015
This year's avian influenza outbreak has already cost outstate Minnesota nearly $310 million, according to an analysis released Monday by University of Minnesota Extension.
The report put the direct economic cost of the influenza-related deaths of 5.7 million turkeys and chickens across the state at $113 million as of May 11.
The report's authors used economic modeling to show the ripple effects of the poultry deaths, including lost income and business-to-business spending. The study found that for every $1 million loss in poultry production, $230,000 of demand for poultry feed is also lost.
If the virus continues at its current pace through another cycle of turkey production, senior analyst Brigid Tuck said losses in the state could double.
Full text:
http://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/05/18/bird-flu-costs
********
|
|
4. USDA Confirms More Highly Pathogenic H5N2 Avian Influenza in Five Flocks in Iowa and Nebraska
USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Bulletin
May 18, 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 five additional flocks in Iowa and Nebraska. 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:
Buena Vista County, Iowa (May 15, 2015)
903,700 chickens
14th detection in this county
Sioux County, Iowa (May 15, 2015)
240,000 chickens
13th detection in this county
Sioux County, Iowa (May 15, 2015)
272,300 chickens
14th detection in this county
Plymouth County, Iowa (May 15, 2015)
100,000 chickens
Dixon County, Nebraska (May 15, 2015)
1.6 million chickens
2nd detection in this county
Full text:
http://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDAAPHIS/bulletins/104f34b
********
|
|
5. Iowa searching for help with millions of dead chickens
Donnelle Eller
Des Moines Register
May 18, 2015
DES MOINES - With nearly a dozen more bird flu cases reported in Iowa last week, state and federal officials find themselves struggling with a nearly overwhelming task - disposing of mountains of dead chickens, turkeys and ducks - nearly 26 million in all - that are casualties of the deadly virus.
Landfills in South Dakota, Nebraska and northwest Iowa, where poultry producers have been the hardest hit, have turned away the dead birds, fearful of the risk of contamination.
The problem is so severe that on Friday, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack stepped in to urge landfills to accept some of the millions of birds killed or destroyed by the H5N2 virus, saying delays could exacerbate odors and flies, problems neighbors have already complained about in some parts of the state.
Full text:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/18/iowa-help-disposal-dead-chickens/27533993/
********
|
|
6. New Options for Composting Avian Flu Losses [IA]
By Sarah Boden & Amy Mayer & Radio Iowa
IowaPublicRadio.org
May 15, 2015
Composting millions of euthanized birds affected by avian flu is arduous and some poultry producers say the process takes too long. The corn stover usually used for cellulosic ethanol may help the process.
Stover is comprised of stalks, cobs and other waste left after harvest. A combination of heat and carbon-rich corn waste accelerates decomposition and kills the virus. The leftover material provides farmers with a compost to spread on fields.
"We've got a couple of companies that are working on cellulosic ethanol and I believe they have been consulted with and to some extent maybe even participated in providing some of that carbon for the composting effort," says Mike Naig, deputy secretary at the Iowa Department Agriculture and Land Stewardship.
Earlier this week Iowa U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack expressing concerns Iowa poultry producers have expressed that depopulation of infected flocks takes too long.
"The challenges is that with egg laying facilities that sanitation system is different than it is with a turkey or a chicken production facility," says Vilsack. "It's easier to compost in facilities that have large space where the birds are located. With egg laying facilities they basically are in cages and they're stacked. So it's much more labor intensive and it takes a little bit longer."
Full text:
http://iowapublicradio.org/post/new-options-composting-avian-flu-losses
********
|
|
7. Disease kills 4 horses in Warren County [IA]
By Dar Danielson
RadioIowa.com
May 14, 2015
A horse stable in Warren County has had several confirmed cases of what's called EHM. "EHM is the acronym for Equine Herpesvirus Myeloencephalopathy, which is just a term for the necrologic or brain and spinal cord form of Equine Herpesvirus," according the Iowa Veterinary Medical Association executive director Randy Wheeler.
Doctor Wheeler says the disease has been found in other states and so far there's just one outbreak here. He says the operation is under quarantine after losing four horses. "There are several others sick, but they are recovering with veterinary treatment and owner care," Wheeler says.
Wheeler says horses usually spread the disease when they touch noses. "But it can be spread through human transmission, such as contaminated clothes, on your hands, your boots, shared water buckets, feed, on our tack, grooming and of course, horse trailer debris," Wheeler says. "It is a virus, it usually takes seven to ten days to cause symptoms. But not all horses will come down with the disease."
Full text:
http://www.radioiowa.com/2015/05/14/disease-kills-4-horses-in-warren-county/
********
|
|
8. Minnesota lawmakers backing $16.5M plan for avian flu help
Associated Press
News8000.com
May 17, 2015
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - The new state budget Minnesota lawmakers are assembling supplies $16.5 million to aid in the state's response to the avian flu.
The appropriation, outlined Saturday, includes $10 million toward a low-interest loan fund for poultry farmers who suffered bird losses from the flu itself. Many saw flocks wiped out after they euthanized birds to halt the outbreak's spread. The loans would assist farmers in replenishing flocks.
The federal government only reimburses farmers for euthanized animals.
The rest of the state money would go to state agencies and boards working to contain the avian flu in Minnesota.
Full text:
http://www.news8000.com/news/minnesota-lawmakers-backing-165m-plan-for-avian-flu-help/33065102
********
|
|
