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1. Towards better surveillance of antibiotic use in animal health
OIE Press Release
October 8, 2015
Paris - The WHO Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance, published in May 2015, has set itself the target of ensuring the efficacy of treatments for infectious diseases in the long-term using effective, quality-assured antimicrobials. It proposes a series of key actions to be implemented within the coming five to ten years. The OIE significantly contributed to its preparation on aspects related to the use of antimicrobials in food-producing animals. Its 180 Member Countries also made a commitment to support the WHO Global Action Plan in the form of a Resolution unanimously adopted at the OIE's 83rd General Assembly last May.
Within this framework, WHO, FAO and the OIE will be continuing their collaborative work to raise the international community's awareness of this topic and to develop joint tools to enable the "One Health" concept to be implemented in this field. Since 2010, the three Organisations have in fact been linked by a Tripartite Alliance aimed at addressing health risks at the animal-human-ecosystems interface.
Among the actions proposed in the Global Action Plan, one of the important projects to be developed by the OIE is to create a global database on the use of antimicrobials in farmed animals, to be managed in parallel with the OIE's World Animal Health Information System (WAHIS).
It is important to note that there is currently no harmonised worldwide system of surveillance on the use and circulation of antibiotics in the world. Among the 180 Member Countries of the OIE, over 110 do not yet have the relevant legislation covering conditions governing the import, production, distribution and use of veterinary products, including antibiotics. These products can therefore circulate without control, like any ordinary goods, and are often adulterated. This is the context in which the OIE has received a mandate from its Member Countries to collect information through the national Veterinary Services on the use of antibiotics in food-producing animals worldwide, a mandate that is supported by FAO and WHO through the Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance.
The database will provide a solid foundation for the work of the three Organisations in their fight against bacterial resistance. Among the many benefits, the information gathered will make it easier for Member Countries to analyse and control the source of the veterinary products, obtain more reliable information on imports, trace their movements, and better evaluate the quality of the products in circulation.
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2. Livestock disease outbreak hits 14 Colorado counties
Mackenzie Concepcion
9News.com
October 8, 2015
KUSA - There are now 42 locations in 14 counties under quarantine after horses, mules and cattle herds tested positive for Vesicular Stomatitis, the Colorado Department of Agriculture's State Veterinarian's Office announced Thursday.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says VS is a viral disease that can cause a drop in livestock products and infect humans handling the animals.
The state veterinarian's office said new VS cases have been diagnosed in Fremont, Garfield, Logan, Moffat and Morgan Counties over the past two weeks.
Officials say some counties, including Montrose and Delta Counties, have seen the number of current cases subside. But other counties, like Mesa County, have seen a significant increase of new cases.
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3. Hog farmers alert for virus as winter nears
By Linly Lin, Bloomberg News
State Journal-Register
October 8, 2015
Hog farmers nationwide are on alert as cold weather may help spread the PEDv swine virus, which killed millions of pigs in an outbreak that peaked in the winter of 2013-14.
The virus, which can survive weeks or as long as months in low temperatures and moist conditions, will have a greater chance of being transmitted among farms in the winter, Lisa Becton, director of swine health information and research at the National Pork Board, said in a telephone interview.
"For winter, it's particularly concerning," Becton said. "The virus has never been eliminated in the U.S. There are still sporadically new cases that are identified in certain areas and states."
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4. State Urges Poultry Owners To Register Flocks As Precaution Against Avian Flu [CT]
By Gregory B. Hladky
Hartford Courant
October 8, 2015
HARTFORD - Although no cases of highly contagious avian flu have been reported in the Northeast in recent years, Connecticut officials are urging poultry owners to register their flocks as a precaution.
Outbreaks in the Midwest and West earlier this year led to more than 48 million chickens being killed and disposed of to prevent the further spread of the bird flu. Connecticut officials emphasized the virus poses little risk to humans.
State agriculture experts are worried about possibility that wild birds migrating south for the winter or north during the spring could carry the disease into Connecticut. The avian virus can be spread by infected chickens, a contaminated environment or poultry equipment, wild birds, or even people who carry the virus on their shoes or clothing after being in an infected area.
Connecticut has an estimated 5 million chickens, turkeys and other types of poultry. The vast majority of these domestic birds are on Kofkoff Egg Farm facilities in Bozrah and Lebanon.
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5. Pneumonia outbreak strikes bighorn sheep at J.T.N.P. [CA]
Patrick Edgell, Digital Content Director
KESQ.com
October 8, 2015
JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. - Officials at Joshua Tree National Park said an outbreak of pneumonia is affecting the bighorn sheep population and it could cause a long term decline that can last longer than a decade.
The first sick and coughing bighorn was reported in early May. In mid-August, a dead lamb was found in the park and the body was sent to a laboratory for necropsy. The lab results confirmed the animal was infected with pneumonia, according to the release.
Park officials said pneumonia typically enters into a population from contact with domestic sheep or goats, and biologists warn the public to avoid releasing domestic sheep or goats into the wild since they can carry the disease without showing any symptoms.
The mortality rate for animals infected is 50 to 90 percent and there is no vaccine or cure, officials said.
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6. Bill Would Protect Pennsylvania Veterinarians
By Pat Raia
TheHorse.com
October 8, 2015
Proposed legislation in Pennsylvania would shield the state's veterinarians from civil liability if they report suspected cases of animal abuse to local law enforcement authorities.
More than 30 states, including Pennsylvania, have laws requiring veterinarians to report suspected animal abuse cases to local authorities, said Michael San Filippo, spokesperson for the American Veterinary Medical Association. Of those states, 27 have statutes protecting veterinarians from civil or even criminal prosecution if they report suspected animal abuse cases.
Introduced into the Pennsylvania House of Representatives by Rep. Mark Keller in June 2015, HB760 would shield licensed veterinarians and certified veterinary technicians from civil litigation whenever they report suspected incidents of animal abuse or cruelty to authorities. The bill is intended to further encourage veterinarians to report animal cruelty and neglect when they see it.
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7. Researchers Create a Mouse that Can Get MERS [edited]
Gale Scott
HCPLive.com
October 8, 2015
What do you do when you need to test drug therapies for Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome but the usual animal subjects do not get the disease? Easy, you just engineer a new kind of mouse.
Researchers concerned about the spread of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome are looking for therapeutics. They need to find lab animals to test promising drugs. There is one major problem. The species of camel known to carry the MERS virus is not a practical choice. And mice and other small animals do not get MERS. Enter Adam Cockrell, of the genetics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC.
In a successful research project he described Oct. 7 at ID Week in San Diego, CA, Cockrell told how he came up with a genetically engineered mouse that could be infected with MERS so that drugs could be tested.
In an article published earlier in the Journal of Virology, Cockrell summarized the work: "Human dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (hDPP4) was recently identified as the receptor for Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection, suggesting that other mammalian DPP4 orthologs may also support infection. We demonstrate that mouse DPP4 cannot support MERS-CoV infection. However, employing mouse DPP4 as a scaffold, we identified two critical amino acids (A288L and T330R) that regulate species specificity in the mouse. This knowledge can support the rational design of a mouse-adapted MERS-CoV for rapid assessment of therapeutics."
Cockrell said he is currently testing a vaccine for MERS. He is also testing antibiotics. So far animals that got the vaccine "were completely protected," he said.
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