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1. Kansas State University researchers attack antibiotic resistance, improve public policy [edited]
Kansas State University
HealthCanal.com
July 22, 2015
MANHATTAN - Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine researchers are looking at the growing problem of antibiotic resistance and are helping shape public policy on the issue to keep humans and animals healthy.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that drug-resistant bacteria cause 2 million illnesses and approximately 23,000 deaths each year in the U.S., according to the White House's March 2015 "National Action Plan For Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria."
Kansas State University's Mike Apley, a professor of production medicine and clinical pharmacology, and Brian Lubbers, assistant professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology and director of microbiology at the Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, both study antimicrobial resistance and have gained national recognition for their work.
"If there is a clear public health risk of using an antibiotic in food animals, we must make some hard choices as to how and if that antibiotic should be used in these animals," Apley said. "We also don't want to see an antibiotic removed in the name of human health when it really doesn't affect human health and the removal harms our ability to care for animals. Antibiotics are a key tool for veterinarians and producers to protect the health and welfare of the animals used for food."
"We're seeing that more than 50 percent of the isolates of one bovine respiratory pathogen coming through the Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Lab are resistant to more than three classes of antibiotics, so resistance is limiting treatment options for people in the field for BRD," Lubbers said.
Full text: http://tinyurl.com/qbnfkdl
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2. Trich-onomics
By John Maday, Editor, Bovine Veterinarian
Drovers CattleNetwork.com
July 24, 2015
When a third or more of a rancher's cows turn up open, which can happen when trichomoniasis, or trich, infects a herd, the rancher obviously takes a significant economic loss. But due to the sporadic nature of the disease, quantifying losses the disease causes across a region or across the country presents a challenge.
Texas A&M University economist David Anderson, PhD, recently presented his economic estimates of trich losses during a meeting of the NCBA BVD Working Group at the Cattle Industry Summer Conference. Anderson worked with university veterinarians to develop a set of assumptions and calculate the annual losses across the Texas cow-calf sector attributable to trich. He estimates that 20 percent of the 150,000 beef herds in Texas have some degree of trich infection in any year. Based on research, he used an average calving rate of 85 percent for the 80 percent of herds that do not have trich and a 73 percent calving rate for herds that do have it.
For this model, he based the estimates on a 90-day calving season. When cows are exposed to trich from bulls during breeding, they often conceive but lose the fetus 50 to 80 days into gestation. Over time, cows typically clear the infection and return to near-normal fertility in two to five months. So, with a 90-day breeding season, trich-infected cows probably will be open at the end of breeding. A longer breeding season could increase calving rate, but late calves would be much lighter at weaning, also resulting in financial losses.
Full text:
http://www.cattlenetwork.com/news/industry/trich-onomics
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3. Equipment sharing leaves farms vulnerable to bird flu, USDA finds
By Daniel Enoch
Agri-Pulse.com
July 26, 2015
WASHINGTON - A USDA analysis has determined that the common practice among poultry farms of sharing equipment such as feed trucks and live haul loaders makes farms more vulnerable to the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).
"While equipment sharing makes economic and logistical sense, it also increases the risk of lateral spread of HPAI between farms," according to an updated epidemiological study aimed at identifying how the deadly disease spread so quickly in the U.S. this spring and summer, eventually resulting in the death of more than 48 million birds, mostly chickens and turkeys.
U.S. SOY Global Trade Exchange, September 9-11,2015
As with an earlier study released in June, the department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said there is not enough evidence to point to a specific pathway or pathways for the deadliest outbreak of HPAI in U.S. history. The outbreak began on the West Coast in December and eventually spread to 15 states before slowing with the advent of warmer summer weather. The last reported detection of the virus, which does not spread easily in hot weather, was June 17.
Full text:
http://www.agri-pulse.com/Equipement-sharing-leaves-farms-vulnerable-to-bird-flu-07262015.asp
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4. Leaky Vaccines Enhance Spread of Deadlier Chicken Viruses [edited]
by Ed Yong
National Geographic
July 27, 2015
Over the past fifty years, Marek's disease-an illness of fowl-has become fouler. Marek's is caused by a highly contagious virus, related to those that cause herpes in humans. It spreads through the dust of contaminated chicken coops, and caused both paralysis and cancer. In the 1970s, new vaccines brought the disease the under control. But Marek's didn't go gently into that good night. Within ten years, it started evolving into more virulent strains, which now trigger more severe cancers and afflict chickens at earlier ages.
Andrew Read from Pennsylvania State University thinks that the vaccines were responsible. The Marek's vaccine is "imperfect" or "leaky". That is, it protects chickens from developing disease, but doesn't stop them from becoming infected or from spreading the virus. Inadvertently, this made it easier for the most virulent strains to survive. Such strains would normally kill their hosts so quickly that they'd die out. But in an immunised flock, they can persist because their lethal nature has been neutered. That's not a problem for vaccinated individuals. But unvaccinated birds are now in serious trouble.
This problem, where vaccination fosters the evolution of more virulent disease, does not apply to most human vaccines. Those against mumps, measles, rubella, and smallpox are "perfect": they protect against disease and stop people from transmitting the respective viruses.
He is also concerned about animal vaccines, which are often leaky. These include vaccines against Newcastle disease in poultry, Brucella in livestock, and especially bird flu. When bird flu outbreaks hit American and European farms, the birds are culled. But in South East Asia, they're often vaccinated, "and those vaccines are leaky," says Read. "It creates an analogous situation to Marek's." The birds might survive more lethal forms of the virus, which they could then spread to each other-and potentially to people.
Reference: Read, Baigent, Powers, Kgosana, Blackwell, Smith, Kennedy, Walkden-Brown & Nair. 2015. Imperfect Vaccination Can Enhance the Transmission of Highly Virulent Pathogens. PLoS Biol http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002198
Full text: http://tinyurl.com/p6hxpm2
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5. Survey seeks information on continuity of business planning for foreign animal disease preparedness [pork producers]
Source: American Association of Swine Veterinarians
National Hog Farmer
July 23, 2015
Following discussion at the American Association of Swine Veterinarians session during the recent World Pork Expo, researchers at the University of Minnesota have developed an online-based survey seeking broad industry input to help support the continuity of business in the event of a foot and mouth disease diagnosis in the United States.
The survey is designed to first determine the risk of disease spread that is associated with specific pork supply chain movements, and secondly, the importance of these movements to business continuity. This information is critical to helping guide emergency response teams and to prioritize resources to support business continuity while effectively managing risk of disease spread in the event of a foreign animal disease outbreak.
The survey will take about 20 minutes to complete, and is iPad/smartphone friendly. The link to the survey is http://z.umn.edu/swinestudy.
Source: http://tinyurl.com/omntox7
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6. UK Gluck Center to Host Immunology Symposium in November
By University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment
TheHorse.com
July 24, 2015
The University of Kentucky Gluck Equine Research Center will host a one-day symposium titled the "Role of Immunology in Equine Health" on Saturday, Nov. 21 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Embassy Suites in Lexington.
This symposium will focus on the immune system's role in equine diseases caused by viruses, bacteria, and parasites. Researchers will present information on the immune response to equine arteritis virus, respiratory disorders, parasitism, skin diseases, and immune changes in foals. Factors affecting the immune response to vaccines will also be presented.
The symposium is targeted toward veterinarians, regulatory officials, farm managers, and breed registry representatives.
The symposium is partially funded by a USDA-NIFA-AFRI (United States Department of Agriculture- National Institute of Food and Agriculture-Agriculture and Food Research Initiative) grant titled "Identification of genetic factors responsible for establishment of equine arteritis virus carrier state in stallions." However, registration is required and the event costs $25. To register, visit http://immunologysymposium.eventbrite.com.
Full text:
http://www.thehorse.com/articles/36147/uk-gluck-center-to-host-immunology-symposium-in-november
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7. Cave Microbe May Aid Bats in White-Nose Syndrome Fight
By Discovery News
July 22, 2015
Thanks to a microbe found in caves called Candida albicans, there may be a new weapon in the fight against white-nose syndrome, a deadly condition that has ravaged bat populations in the United States for nearly a decade.
Scientists from the University of Illinois have shown in the lab that a compound called tt-farnesol that's produced by C. albicans can inhibit the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome, which attacks bats while they hibernate and has killed millions of the animals.
"We're looking for a microbe that's already associated with bats, that lives in the cave environment and is not a problem for people or other cave life," said Illinois graduate student Raudabaugh, who conducted the study along with Illinois Natural History Survey mycologist Andrew Miller.
AIDS Drug May Work Against Bat Disease
C. albicans commonly lives in many species, including the intestines of humans. The scientists tested various concentrations of its byproduct tt-farnesol against the white-nose syndrome fungus (Pseudogymnoascus destructans) and found that at the right level it will indeed inhibit the deadly fungus.
Full text:
http://tinyurl.com/q4oc7g8
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