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1. Doctors call on hospitals to oppose the overuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture
University of California - San Francisco
EurekAlert
October 15, 2015
To help stop the spread of antibiotic resistance, UC San Francisco scientists are urging hospitals around the country to stop buying meat from animals that were given antibiotics for growth promotion.
For the last two years, UCSF Medical Center has been phasing out meat from animals that were routinely fed antibiotics, and now nearly a third of the meat served to patients, as well as in the medical center's cafeterias and catering operations, comes from animals that were only given antibiotics in the case of illness.
Experts warn that the overuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture is endangering human health. Agricultural use accounts for nearly 80 percent of the antibiotics sold in the United States, and the vast majority are from classes used to treat infections in people.
"This practice encourages the development of resistance," said Thomas B. Newman, MD, MPH, professor of epidemiology and biostatistics, as well as pediatrics at UCSF, and an author of the commentary, which appeared in the Oct. 15, 2015, issue of the American Journal of Public Health. "Antibiotics are now more and more recognized as a precious resource that needs to be managed sustainably."
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2. Antibiotic use in livestock and expanded role of veterinarians focus of October workshop
By UC Davis
Bovine Veterinarian
October 14, 2015
The UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and the Farm Foundation recently brought together the state's livestock and poultry producers, their feed suppliers and veterinarians to discuss a changing landscape of antibiotic drug use in food animals. These changes are a result of a national effort to reduce antibiotic resistance, a top health concern facing our country.
New guidelines issued by the FDA - effective January 1, 2017 - require label changes allowing only therapeutic uses for some medically-important antimicrobial drugs, and call for increased veterinarian oversight for these drugs used in animal feed, which are currently sold over the counter with unrestricted access. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, antibiotic-resistance-related infections kill 23,000 people and sicken millions each year.
Regional industry leaders were among the speakers at the workshop held at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. They included Chuck Ahlem of Hilmar Farms; Bill Mattos of the CA Poultry Federation; Dr. Stuart Hall of Feedlot Health Management Services; and Dr. Marit Arana of A.L. Gilbert Company. Dr. Craig Lewis of the U.S. FDA and Dr. Kathe Bjork of the USDA were also present to provide an overview of the complex public health issue of antibiotic resistance, the new guidelines and available to answer questions from the nearly 70 participants.
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3. Understanding how IB viruses are tested, typed is first step to control in poultry
By Mark W. Jackwood, PhD, Univ. of Georgia
Poultry Health Today - US edition
October 15, 2015
Infectious bronchitis remains one of the most economically significant diseases of commercial poultry. It causes not only respiratory disease but also decreased egg production, poor quality eggs and, with some strains, nephritis and high mortality.
New variants of infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) continually emerge, which underscores the need for active surveillance and timely identification of the IBVs circulating in chicken flocks. It's the only way that producers and their veterinarians have the information they need to initiate an appropriate vaccine-management plan since different types of IBV do not cross-protect. The more you understand how we screen samples for IBV, the better you can understand the complexity of the disease and the need for strategic vaccination programs.
IBV identification is accomplished using molecular detection techniques. Some IBV samples are 100% similar to a known IBV, but when the similarity is not as clear-cut, the test results leave uncertainty about how to plan vaccine protocols.
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4. $2.5m grant to probe how diseases become epidemics
Feedstuffs
October 15, 2015
An Oregon State University scientist is heading a multinational team studying how to anticipate and curb the next disease outbreak before it blows up into a global epidemic.
Funded by a new $2.5 million grant, Oregon State plant pathologist Christopher Mundt and his team are probing infectious diseases of humans, animals and plants that have a distinctive trait in common: the capability of the pathogen - whether virus, fungus or bacterium - to transmit itself over long distances. This pattern, he said, characterizes diseases like avian influenza, which have produced continental-scale epidemics.
"Our goal is to develop rules of thumb for identifying and controlling diseases that have this long-distance dispersal capability," Mundt said. "We don't have the scientific manpower to create detailed models of every potential epidemic. So a generalized set of control strategies would be vital in policy planning during the early stages of an outbreak."
Mundt, a professor in Oregon State's College of Agricultural Sciences, is partnering with scientists from Kansas State University, North Carolina State University and two universities in England on the five-year project, which is being funded by several organizations.
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5. Summit to explore student debt related issues, solutions
AVMA, AAVMC, Michigan State picking up where NAVMEC left off
By Malinda Larkin
JAVMA News
November 1, 2015
Posted October 14, 2015
Two meetings taking place this fall and next spring will focus on assessing the impact of student debt on the veterinary profession and what can be done to help those affected. The AVMA, Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges, and Michigan State University have agreed to partner in hosting the events.
First, a working group of up to 25 people will develop recommendations on how to better address educational economic issues. This will take place Nov. 9-10 at AVMA headquarters in Schaumburg, Illinois. The goals of this initial gathering include the following:
Understand and define the issues and problems around the costs of veterinary education for students.
Determine what resources are needed.
Begin to prioritize the problems.
Strategize on crafting definable, concrete, and accountable action plans.
Determine a course of action, next summits and objectives, and finances needed.
The second meeting, a summit to be held in April 2016 at Michigan State, will involve up to 200 people who will respond to the recommendations. When finalized, the recommendations will be directed to the veterinary colleges, the AVMA, and other organizations to address.
"What we're talking about is student education economic issues, which goes beyond debt. These meetings will discuss all relevant factors, from starting salaries to the cost of education to the debt students incur and how they service it," said AVMA CEO Ron DeHaven at the AVMA Board of Directors' meeting, Sept. 10-12.
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6. NOTICE: Final Rule 90-407-2 Fee Increases for Overtime Services
USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Bulletin
October 15, 2015
On October 2, 2015, the Federal Register published Final Rule 09-047-2, "Fee Increases for Overtime Services". This rule adjusts the hourly rates hourly rates charged for Sundays, holidays, or other overtime work performed by employees of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) for any person, firm, or corporation having ownership, custody, or control of regulated commodities or articles subject to agricultural inspection, laboratory testing, certification, or quarantine under the regulations. With these rate adjustments APHIS will recover the true cost of providing the services. This is the first change to overtime rates since 2002.
The new rates are commensurate with the anticipated cost of providing reimbursable services through 2018. This final rule includes clarifying regulations so that reimbursable inspections performed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are billed in accordance with DHS overtime regulations.
This rate increase is effective on November 2, 2015.
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7. Dittmer: Resolution of mCOOL still waiting
By Steve Dittmer
Drovers CattleNetwork.com
October 15, 2015
A key question for livestock producers is, what has been happening behind the scenes on the mCOOL issue while Congress has been on recess?
The answer is, progress is hard to detect.
As you may know, the House passed a repeal bill shortly after the World Trade Organization (WTO) made its fourth and final decision that the U.S. mandatory country-of-origin-labeling (mCOOL) law did not meet WTO rules. Because the United States has failed to adequately revise or repeal its regulations to meet the rules and lost all appeals, that means the winners in the case - Canada and Mexico - have the power to decide what constitutes settlement of the case or to request permission to retaliate against imports of U.S. products into their countries.
Canada and Mexico have said plainly that repeal of the law is what they would accept. They filed retaliation figures - based on damages they have suffered - totaling $3 billion for Canada and roughly $600 billion for Mexico.
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