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1. Bird flu outbreak shows importance of GIS data sharing - panelists
By Jake Williams
StateScoop.com
October 7, 2015
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Better data sharing could have improved states' response to the bird flu outbreak earlier this year, officials said Tuesday.
After news of the outbreak broke, geographic information systems officials across the Midwest, South and Pacific Coast pieced together maps to help identify infected areas and buffer zones in their states. But generally, states weren't collaborating with each other. In Minnesota alone, officials created more than 1,700 maps during the five-month outbreak, but local laws prevented them from sharing their data across state lines, said Dan Ross, the state's geospatial information officer.
"Data sharing was easy [but] there are statutes against it - so we didn't share it," Ross said during a panel at the National States Geographic Information Council's annual conference Tuesday. "Sharing would've made it easier."
In some cases, states will have to work within their legislatures to overturn old statutes on data sharing. In others, states will need to turn to groups like NSGIC to share best practices, even if they can't share specific data.
A map of where avian flu was reported in Minnesota (USDA)
A map of where bird flu was reported in Minnesota. (USDA)
In Iowa, the nation's largest egg producer, the outbreak affected 18 counties for nearly three months and resulted in the death of 32 million animals. Jon Paoli, the state's GIS coordinator, said that in a situation like the outbreak, data sharing will be crucial to containing outbreaks in the future, and despite getting several requests about what the state was doing with GIS to manage the outbreak, Paoli and his team couldn't legally share detailed information.
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2. Start the dialogue on antibiotics
By Dr. Marian Garcia
PorkNetwork.com
October 7, 2015
The issue of antibiotic use in animal agriculture and its impact on antibiotic resistance in human medicine has received a lot of media attention. It is a complex issue, like so many others surrounding how we raise animals for food. A colleague of mine once said, "If you think you understand antimicrobial resistance, then it hasn't been properly explained to you."
The public's interest in this matter is a tremendous opportunity. It provides all of us a space in the public discussion to take action and look for ways to preserve the efficacy of these products for the benefit of future generations - future generations of doctors and their patients as well as future generations of veterinarians and their patients.
First, a quick review of a basic fact: Antibiotics work against bacteria, not viruses. For example, they can treat things like a "Strep throat," but they cannot treat the "flu." Human physicians will only prescribe antibiotic treatment when it's likely to be of benefit to the patient and will use a drug that targets the likely bacteria causing the infection.
Animal veterinarians use antibiotics to treat, control and prevent disease and keep animals healthy and also select an antibiotic that will target the likely bacteria. I'm not sure how many people realize that there are legally mandated withdrawal times for antibiotics used in food producing animals. We are required by law to withhold meat and/or milk for specified periods of time to assure that the food supply stays free of violative antibiotic residues.
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3. RML study of mouse brains yields new info on prion diseases
By Michael Howell
Bitterroot Star
October 6, 2015
A recent study by scientists at Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Hamilton yielded some surprising results that shed light on the early development and spread of prion diseases in the brain. Prion diseases are degenerative neurological diseases that involve a "misfolded protein," known as a prion. The prion replicates itself by causing other normal proteins to misfold and, in a process called "seeding," it spreads abnormal proteins throughout the brain like an infection.
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (Mad Cow Disease) in cattle; chronic wasting disease in deer and elk; scrapies in sheep and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans are all prion diseases, but the one under study at the lab was a form of scrapies that was developed in laboratory mice about fifty years ago.
According to Dr. Bruce Chesebro, Chief Scientist at the Laboratory of Persistent Diseases at RML and lead author of the article, understanding how this prion disease spreads through the brain could lead to the development of way to block it. And what is learned here could potentially be applied to other diseases. The article was published September 22 in Microbial Biofilms, an open access journal published by the American Society for Microbiology. [Chesebro B, Striebel J, Rangel A, Phillips K, Hughson A, Caughey B, Race B. 2015. Early generation of new PrPSc on blood vessels after brain microinjection of scrapie in mice. mBio 6(5):e01419-15. doi:10.1128/mBio.01419-15.]
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4. International Symposium focuses on managing mass animal mortalities
By Institute for Infectious Animal Diseases
Bovine Veterinarian
October 7, 2015
The 5th International Symposium on Managing Animal Mortalities, Products, By-Products and Associated Health Risks was held September 28 - October 1, 2015 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Through presentations, tours, hands-on activities and networking opportunities, participants were able to discuss effective plans and methods aimed at protecting animal health, human health, economies, communities and our environment during routine and emergency animal mortality management. Symposium participants also were encouraged to strengthen new and existing networks in order to identify current gaps or capability challenges in animal mortality management and work together to develop solutions.
"We wanted our participants to think about creating systems that work effectively and quickly to manage mass animal mortality events," said Dale Rozeboom, Ph.D., Michigan State University professor and extension specialist and Symposium Chair. "Gaps can exist in many areas - from depopulation, disposal and decontamination to administration of response, funding availability and communication between national, state and local government agencies. By bringing together such a variety of industry professionals and by having representation from 12 different countries, I believe we are developing important relationships and making great strides towards delivering innovative global response and recovery solutions."
Keynote speaker Tim Goldsmith, DVM, MPH, DACVPM, University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine assistant professor and co-director of the Veterinary Public Health and Preventative Medicine Residency Program, explained the importance of understanding risk in planning for and responding to catastrophic animal disease and how meetings like the Symposium are crucial for providing the tools needed to manage risk.
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5. UT Team Receives Grant to Address Deadly Bat Disease [TN]
Tennessee Today - Univ. on Tennessee, Knoxville
October 7, 2015
A UT team has received a federal grant to help combat a deadly disease affecting bats.
The grant will be used to explore how the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome affects southeastern bats during hibernation. The group's research will attempt to find resolutions to help manage this crisis by examining the waking from winter slumber, cave emergence, and foraging behavior.
Emma Willcox, assistant professor of wildlife management in the Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries in the UT Institute of Agriculture, is the lead investigator of a $248,500 grant from the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Willcox is the lead researcher on the project and is partnering with Gary McCracken, professor in UT's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Riley Bernard, postdoctoral associate, also in the Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries.
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6. Genetically pure bison to return to NoCo prairie
Jacy Marmaduke
The Coloradoan
October 7, 2015
A herd of bison will be released to roam the Northern Colorado plains next month in the culmination of a six-year effort to return home a species once hunted to the brink of extinction.
The 10 genetically pure bison, born with the help of assistive reproductive technology, will move to their new home in Fort Collins' Soapstone Prairie Natural Area and Larimer County's Red Mountain Open Space near the Colorado-Wyoming border on Nov. 1 - National Bison Day.
The bison are currently bunking at Colorado State University's Foothills Campus, which will host a free celebration with family-friendly activities, remarks and project presentations 10 a.m. to noon on the release day. Visitors can get a close look at bison during the celebration, although they won't be the bison being released that day.
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7. Mystery Deer Species Shows Up In North Country [NY]
Courtesy: Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe
WWNYTV.com
October 7, 2015
The Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe's Environment Division is notifying local residents about sightings of an unidentified deer species.
The deer has been spotted in the vicinity of Raquette Point.
Photographs and reports of the animal began Monday and have been received from the area around Twin Leaf Gas & Tobacco and the former-General Motors site.
The origin of the deer is unknown at this time.
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