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1. Lawmakers look for more Avian Flu assistance
By Sara Wyant
Agri-Pulse.com
August 4, 2015
WASHINGTON - With hot, humid temperatures across much of the country, outbreaks of avian influenza have finally stopped.
But following a House Agriculture Committee hearing last week on this subject, lawmakers want more assistance for impacted poultry growers who are still suffering from the loss of more than 48 million birds.
In a letter sent to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Friday, House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Collin Peterson and 28 other committee members commended him for the department's efforts to combat the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) outbreak and urged additional steps be taken to assist impacted poultry growers.
"I appreciate the work done by both USDA and Minnesota officials thus far but as summer turns to fall, there is concern that we could see a reoccurrence. We need to do everything we can to be prepared should the disease return in the future," said Peterson, whose Seventh Congressional District has been "ground zero" for the avian influenza outbreak.
The letter urged continued assistance in three areas - complete biosecurity research in a timely manner to ensure industry can take immediate steps before fall, complete bilateral trade talks with international partners to ensure vaccine usage will not harm export sales, and complete research and development of a viable commercial vaccine.
Full text:
http://www.agri-pulse.com/Lawmakers-look-for-more-Avian-Flu-assistance-08042015.asp
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2. Iowa reduces bird flu control zones
Rod Boshart, Times Bureau
Quad City Times
August 4, 2015
DES MOINES - The number of areas in Iowa still under quarantine orders because of a deadly bird flu outbreak is down to eight control zones, officials in the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship said Tuesday.
State ag officials lifted 69 of the 77 control zones that were established around premises in Iowa infected with avian influenza. The 10-kilometer control zones were established around each site with a confirmed Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza case.
Also Tuesday, officials in Iowa and the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that a turkey farm near Manson that was infected with the bird flu virus has started restocking birds after completing the cleaning and disinfection process without negative environmental tests.
Full text: http://tinyurl.com/nvxor8g
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3. Feed supplement greatly reduces dairy cow methane emissions
Penn State Press Release
EurekAlert
August 4, 2015
A supplement added to the feed of high-producing dairy cows reduced methane emissions by 30 percent and could have ramifications for global climate change, according to an international team of researchers.
In addition, over the course of the 12-week study conducted at Penn State's dairy barns, cows that consumed a feed regimen supplemented by the novel methane inhibitor 3-nitrooxypropanol -- or 3NOP -- gained 80 percent more body weight than cows in a control group. Significantly, feed intake, fiber digestibility and milk production by cows that consumed the supplement did not decrease.
The findings are noteworthy because methane is a potent greenhouse gas. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that methane from livestock makes up 25 percent of the total methane emissions in the
United States. Globally, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization, animal agriculture emits 44 percent of the methane produced by human activity.
Full text:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-08/ps-fsg080415.php
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4. Novel fatigue syndrome in feedlot cattle described
Feedstuffs
August 4, 2015
Researchers at Kansas State University's College of Veterinary Medicine, in collaboration with colleagues at Iowa State University and Texas Tech University, have discovered a novel fatigue syndrome affecting feedlot cattle. The syndrome is similar to one affecting the swine industry.
The researchers' landmark paper, "Description of a Novel Fatigue Syndrome of Finished Feedlot Cattle Following Transportation," appeared as a special report in the July 15 issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.
Co-authors are Dan Thomson, Jones professor of production medicine in the College of Veterinary Medicine and director of the Beef Cattle Institute at Kansas State University; Jamie Henningson, a diagnostic pathologist, and Bhupinder Bawa, a former pathology resident, both with the Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory; Guy Loneragan, professor of food safety and public health at Texas Tech University, and Steve Ensley, a veterinary clinician and toxicologist at Iowa State University.
"This syndrome has been identified in the swine industry and had not been identified in cattle until our work that started in 2013," Thomson said. "Our landmark paper places an emphasis on cattle stress at the end of the feeding period with items such as heat load, animal size, cattle handling at shipping, time of day of shipping, animal transportation and other issues that could be causing stress of large cattle during the summer time."
Full text:
http://feedstuffs.com/story-novel-fatigue-syndrome-feedlot-cattle-described-45-130606
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5. Glanders Detected at 2016 Olympic Equestrian Facilities
By Christa Lest�-Lasserre, MA
TheHorse.com
August 4, 2015
Glanders, a fatal infectious disease, has been detected in a horse previously stabled at the 2016 Olympic equestrian facilities in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. However, officials say the diagnosis isn't necessarily cause for concern.
At least one horse housed at the Deodoro National Cavalry Complex tested positive for glanders via a blood serum sample in April, the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture (MAPA) stated. The horse, belonging to the Brazilian military, was immediately euthanized.
However, the horse could have had a false positive result, said Bernard Vallat, DVM, director general of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) in Paris, France. Blood testing for glanders can result in false positives, and more advanced diagnostic testing must be carried out in order to have a reliable result, he said.
The Olympic venue housed military horses until less than five months ago, when the animals were removed under the request of the OIE and the F�d�ration Equestre Internationale (FEI), Vallat said. "We had been urging them to get the horses out of there (in preparation for the Olympic Games) ... and they finally moved them out in April," he told The Horse.
It's now impossible to retest the euthanized horse using more advanced methods, Vallat said. But the military reported that a post-mortem examination revealed no signs of the disease.
Usually Brazil sends "urgent" notifications to the OIE each time a glanders blood test comes up positive anywhere in the country, Vallat said. However, in this case, the notification was sent as non-urgent and was published as part of a biannual country report, rather than as an alert, he said.
As a precautionary measure, samples have been taken from the 584 horses from the Deodoro Military Complex for testing. The screening is currently underway at the OIE reference laboratory in Jena, Germany, where the most advanced glanders detection methods will be used. Results should be available by early September, Vallat said.
Full text:
http://www.thehorse.com/articles/36220/glanders-detected-at-2016-olympic-equestrian-facilities
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6. Brain Infection Study Reveals How Disease Spreads From Gut
Source: University of Edinburgh
Infection Control Today
August 4, 2015
Diagnosis of deadly brain conditions could be helped by new research that shows how infectious proteins that cause the disease spread. The study reveals how the proteins -- called prions -- spread from the gut to the brain after a person or animal has eaten contaminated meat. Scientists say their findings could aid the earlier diagnosis of prion diseases -- which include variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) in people and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cows.
In people, the disease remains very rare -- 229 people have died from vCJD since it was first identified almost 20 years ago, of which 177 were from the UK.
Prions are infectious proteins with abnormal shapes that can be passed between people and animals by eating contaminated meat. Until now, it was not known how prions spread from the gut to the brain after consuming infected meat.
Researchers at University of Edinburgh's Roslin Institute studied the course of prion infection in mice. They found that prions must first build up in specialised structures in the lining of the small intestine before they are able to spread throughout the body to the brain.
The structures, called Peyer's patches, are part of the body's immune system and form the first line of defence against contaminated food. The study suggests prions hijack Peyer's patches to cause infection. Prions did not build up in similar patches in the large intestine until a later stage of infection, the team found. At this stage, prions were also detected in the spleen and lymph nodes.
Full text: http://tinyurl.com/pct72d9
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7. Judge Strikes Down Idaho's Ag-Gag Law
By Linda Larsen
Food Poisoning Bulletin
August 4, 2015
The Ag-Gag law in Idaho, which was passed in 2014, has been struck down as unconstitutional by U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill. The state has not decided if it will appeal this decision. This is the first time an ag-gag statute has been struck down by a federal court.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) brought a case against the state in April 2015. The law was passed after the animal rights group Mercy for Animals shot an undercover video showing workers abusing milk cows at the Dry Creek Dairy in Hansen, Idaho.
ALDF alleged that the bill "has both the purpose and effect of stifling public debate about modern agriculture." The law criminalizes all employment-based undercover investigations and criminalizes investigative journalism,whistleblowing by employees, or other expository efforts that entail images or sounds.
This is a violation of the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, according to the complaint. ALDF moved for summary judgment on those claims, and the Court granted their motion.
Full text:
https://foodpoisoningbulletin.com/2015/judge-strikes-down-idahos-ag-gag-law/
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