|
1. Commentary: Funding critical for FMD response
By John Maday, Editor, Bovine Veterinarian
Drover's CattleNetwork.com
September 03, 2015
From the September issue of Bovine Veterinarian: As researchers, animal-health officials and industry stakeholders develop response strategies in case of a domestic outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD), it has become clear that vaccination could play a critical role. But, according to a coalition of agricultural organizations, our current vaccine bank and ability to scale up vaccine production in an emergency are not even close to adequate.
The group, including the National Cattleman's Beef Association, National Milk Producers Federation and other livestock, grain and feed associations recently send a letter to Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS), Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. In the letter, the groups outline weaknesses and funding shortfalls in the current system and ask Roberts to work with USDA and industry to improve the nation's preparedness for an FMD outbreak.
The volume of vaccine needed would depend on the type and scope of an outbreak. James Roth, DVM, PhD, DACVM, director of Iowa State University's Center for Food Security and Public Health (CFSPH), has defined six types of potential FMD outbreaks, ranging from Type 1, a focal outbreak, to Type 6, a catastrophic North American outbreak, with the type influencing appropriate response strategies. At the lower end of the scale, the response likely would focus on stamping out, or culling all infected or exposed animals in the affected zone. But as the outbreak spreads to a larger regional or national scale, stamping out becomes unrealistic, and the response would shift toward alternative strategies including vaccination that could involve millions of animals.
In January 2014, the CFSPH issued a draft white paper titled "FMD Vaccine Surge Capacity for Emergency Use in the United States," with Dr. Roth the lead author. The authors estimate the cost of funding adequate surge capacity at $150 million per year for five years - a relatively small price to protect a livestock industry that generates $100 billion per year in cash receipts.
New funding streams would, however, need to be developed, either through the industry or industry-government partnerships. Discussing this issue at the Cattle Industry Summer Conference, APHIS Veterinary Services Executive Director Burke Healey, DVM, said the estimated cost of $150 million per year essentially matches the entire annual budget at APHIS-VS.
Full text:
********
|
|
2. Turkeys Could Use Obamacare, Too
By Alan Bjerga
Bloomberg Businessweek
September 3, 2015
The arrival of cooler weather in the upper Midwest has poultry farmers worrying about the return of bird flu, which last spring wiped out more than 48 million chickens and turkeys nationwide. The U.S. Department of Agriculture spent $191 million to contain the outbreak-though the total cost is closer to $700 million once cleanup, disinfection, and vaccine research are included, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in July.
That still doesn't cover farmers' lost sales. It took John Burkel more than three months to repopulate his turkey barns near Badger, Minn., after the flu claimed 14,000 of his birds in a single week. He'll have just two-thirds of his usual supply to sell this Thanksgiving-as long as flu doesn't strike again. "I don't know if a guy could do this two times in a row, to be honest," he says.
U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, thinks Burkel shouldn't have to. Almost half of all bird flu detections were in her state, the nation's top turkey producer. In 2014, before the flu hit, she succeeded in getting language into the federal farm bill authorizing a USDA study into how to create insurance for poultry and pig producers along the lines of public programs covering growers of corn, soybeans, and other commodities prone to weather disasters. Klobuchar is pushing the agency to complete the study and move quickly to come up with a solution to ensure farmers like Burkel don't go under. "This is a way of life for these producers," she says. One option is to expand the program that already covers cleanup costs after an outbreak. "You could keep the USDA's current program and add insurance to losses not currently covered," she says. "You could make insurance a part of indemnification. You could have different programs for different types of birds."
Insurance against bird flu is the "top topic No. 1 through 5" among poultry producers right now, says John Anderson, an economist with the American Farm Bureau Federation. But setting up a bird flu insurance program is harder than doing so for crops because outbreaks are more difficult to predict.
Full text:
********
|
|
3. New technology may allow mass production of flu vaccines
News-Medical.net
September 3, 2015
Vaccines to protect against an avian influenza pandemic as well as seasonal flu may be mass produced more quickly and efficiently using technology described today (Sept. 2) by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the journal Nature Communications.
The new method for making flu vaccines using cell culture was devised using a type of research that has since been paused by the federal government, which is formulating regulations for how some viruses can be manipulated. The finding emphasizes the value of such research, says Yoshihiro Kawaoka, the professor of pathobiological sciences whose group performed the work.
Currently, most flu vaccines are manufactured using fertilized chicken eggs as crucibles to grow vaccine viruses - viruses that are a good match for anticipated seasonal or pandemic flu strains. Flu viruses are grown in the eggs, deactivated with chemicals, and purified to create the raw material for a vaccine.
However, because avian influenza can strike the flocks used to produce the millions of eggs required worldwide to make vaccines, serious outbreaks of avian flu could impede vaccine production.
********
|
|
4. Consumer Reports Stirs Up Unnecessary Consumer Concerns Over Ground Beef
By David Acheson and Bill Marler
Forbes
September 3, 2015
Consumer Reports made a splash last week with an investigation into risks associated with ground beef. After reading the report (see it here), our worry is that it is going to create unnecessary worry among consumers.
While there is no question that ground beef is a food that has risks, we need to keep those risks in perspective and recognize that the risks are controllable if people in the food safety system are doing their part.
From a historical perspective, ground beef has certainly been the source of some major public health problems. Going back to 1992/93, the "Jack-in-the-Box " E. coli O157:H7 outbreak put food safety and risks associated with tainted, undercooked ground beef, very much at the front and center of both the food industry and consumer's concerns. Since then, the beef and fast food industries have made major changes to manage risks in raw ground beef. The result is that outbreaks and recalls of E. coli O157:H7 ground beef are way down, and have been down substantially for nearly a decade.
The Consumer Reports article focuses on testing undertaken on 300 samples of raw ground beef obtained from retail stores. Despite the efforts of the industry, raw ground beef is not a completely sterile product - that is why one needs to handle it appropriately and cook it properly. So it is no surprise that the study found a variety of bacteria in the tested samples. But the most important question to ask is whether these bacteria are likely to cause harm to humans?
The first point to note is that the investigators at Consumer Reports failed to find any of the most serious types of E. coli, like the one that caused the Jack in the Box outbreak, in the tested products. This means that the suppliers of these meat products had done an excellent job of keeping these dangerous types of E. coli out of the finished product. And although the investigators did find low levels of Salmonella at around 1-2% of tested samples, this is far below the current regulatory limit that is imposed by the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service of 7.5%. This also shows that the meat industry was doing a great job of controlling Salmonella risk.
********
|
|
5. Fitness Trackers May Catch on With Cows
By Timothy Hay
Wall Street Journal Blog
September 3, 2015
Wearable fitness trackers have become a hot must-have gadget among the tech-savvy and health-conscious, but the devices have still not taken off to the point where beef cattle are wearing them.
That is, not until now.
While Fitbit Inc., Jawbone and other wearables companies strive to dominate a lively consumer market largely concentrated in mertropolitan areas, something altogether different is happening in Kansas City.
In the country's Farm Belt, where the health of animals can make the difference between a profitable year and going bust, wearable health trackers are making their way to the herd.
"Traditionally, we used a cowboy on a horse for this job," said Chris Ragland, chief executive at agriculture business-intelligence firm Animalytix LLC and a member of the selection committee at the Kansas City Health Investment Forum.
The forum, held this week, has been drawing an ever-increasing number of Silicon Valley venture capitalists looking for opportunities in the animal-health sector, conference organizers say.
Mr. Ragland, who reviewed 39 applications from animal-health startups looking to present at the conference, chose 17 companies to participate, with three of them being makers of wearable health trackers for cows.
All three companies are looking to provide earlier identification of bovine respiratory disease and other common ailments.
Full text:
********
|
|
6. 'Wooliest Sheep in the World' Gets Badly Needed Haircut
Associated Press
The Weather Channel
September 3, 2015
While he might've enjoyed his extra wool during the Australian winter, Chris - the former "wooliest sheep in the world" - finally has a new look. The wild, merino ram yielded 89 pounds of wool - the equivalent of 30 sweaters - and shed almost half his body weight, according to the Associated Press.
Chris the Sheep was rescued by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) on September 2, 2015 after a local resident tipped off inspectors about the wooly creature roaming around an area near the border between New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory in an area known as Mulligan's Flat, according to the Canberra Times.
Here's Chris after he was rescued from the wild - still holding onto his unofficial world record amount of wool. He could barely walk through doors, and rescuers worried about serious infections.
Fortunately, the shearing was a success and the outlook is positive for Chris.
Full text:
********
|
|
7. Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza; Availability of an Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact
Federal Register Volume 80, Number 172 (Friday, September 4, 2015)
Notices
Page 53485
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-21994]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
Docket No. APHIS-2015-0058
Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza; Availability of an Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of availability and request for comments.
SUMMARY: We are advising the public that an environmental assessment has been prepared by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service relative to a national approach for the control of highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks within the United States. Based on our environmental assessment, we have concluded that such an approach will not have a significant impact on the quality of the human environment. We are making this environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact available to the public for review and comment.
DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before October 5, 2015.
Full text:
********
|
|
