|
* * * * * * * * * *
1. Disease Tracking Aids Swine Industry
By Philip Gruber, Staff Writer
Lancaster Farming
October 31, 2015
An online mapping tool from the University of Pennsylvania is helping the state's swine industry coordinate the response to its biggest disease challenges.
Started about 10 years ago and launched as a secure Internet portal in 2012, the Pennsylvania Regional Control Program's scope has gradually expanded as new diseases emerge.
"The main driver was that it's been very difficult and economically costly to deal with the PRRS virus," said Meghann Pierdon, a veterinarian and researcher who runs the tracking program at the New Bolton Center, part of the university's School of Veterinary Medicine.
PRRS - porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome - changes a lot, so it is difficult to vaccinate against, and farms can easily get re-infected, Pierdon said.
Swine industry participants have generally been reluctant to discuss disease outbreaks, but unless PRRS could be addressed regionally, it was clear that the disease would keep coming back.
To make participants more comfortable, Pierdon points out that the university is a private institution and therefore not subject to Freedom of Information Act requests.
Full text:
********
|
|
2. Vaccination against avian influenza
WorldPoultry.net
November 2, 2015
The avian influenza threat has changed recently, disrupting trade, inducing high levels of mortality and causing enormous economic losses. This has changed the discussion on whether to vaccinate or not. Dr Yannick Gardin of Ceva: "There are many dogmas surrounding the control of Avian flu. Countries who decided to vaccinate were viewed as the bad countries, this label is no longer appropriate."
Until now, 2015 has seen 309 individual outbreaks of Avian Influenza reported to the World Organisation for Animal Health. This is a staggering 147% increase on the outbreaks reported in 2014. In the US alone, during the last six months, 48 million domestic poultry birds have been culled in 15 states. It has been the worst epidemic of HPAI ever in the US and, despite the outbreak seemingly being under control, there are fears that AI could reappear at any time.
Considering the suddenness and the gravity of this epizootic, many questions have been raised regarding actions to be implemented to control the disease, including interest in using vaccination as a tool to complement measures put in place. It is still believed, however, that biosecurity and sanitary police are sufficient to control the situation and that vaccination is not necessary. It has even been said that vaccination would make things worse by helping the disease become endemic, as happened in some countries in Asia and the Middle East, with a special focus on China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Egypt.
To some extent, the view that vaccination against AI should be banned has actually become a dogma.
New situation
But the situation has changed. The biology of the AI viruses affecting the US is different. The structure of the poultry industry is different. The available technical and financial means are different and we have learned lessons from the past. This all means that today we know better why AI vaccination in Asia and the Middle East was ineffective or poorly effective in eradicating the disease. And, last but not least, a vector vaccine which has recently been developed in the US and introduced on the market has shown properties and potential that make it very different from the old vaccines that are still in use in many vaccinating countries, especially with respect to efficacy and the possibility of monitoring the disease situation in the presence of vaccination. Times have changed. The decision to vaccinate is a tough one. Important information and facts have to be considered before casually discarding the vaccination option or blindly applying it.
Full text:
********
|
|
3. Traveling to the Heartland to Discuss Antimicrobial Resistance
By: Michael R. Taylor
FDA Voice
November 2, 2015
One of the great privileges and pleasures of my job is getting to see the food system at work. Whether it's a big cereal manufacturer in Minnesota, a small New England produce operator, or, most recently, a Midwest cattle feeding operation, I always learn something new, and I get to meet people who are working hard to put food on our tables.
Michael R. TaylorLast month, I traveled with some FDA colleagues to Kansas at the invitation of U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran to learn about the practicalities of beef production, including how animal drugs are being used and managed. Senator Moran, who goes by "Jerry" back home and clearly enjoys being there, graciously accompanied us the whole day. We had a great experience.
For starters, to paraphrase Dorothy, when you spend a day in Kansas, you know you're not in Washington any more. It's partly the famous Midwestern friendliness, which we encountered at every turn as we walked the Kansas State campus, toured the K-State College of Veterinary Medicine, and visited Great Bend Feeding, Inc.
But it's also the tangible presence of the land itself and people who for generations have built small communities on the foundation of agriculture and food production. These are folks who live and work far from Washington, and who often view Washington skeptically, but with whom we have a common cause in providing Americans the safest possible food supply.
********
|
|
4. Penn-led research elucidates genetics behind Salmonella's host specificity
ScienceCodex.com
November 2, 2015
It's called bird flu for a reason. Particular characteristics about the influenza virus known as H5N1 allow it to primarily affect avifauna, though in some worrying cases the disease has been passed to humans.
Similarly, many strains, known as serovars, of Salmonella bacteria are specific to certain types of animals. Some infect cows, others poultry and still others affect primarily humans.
Now, research by a team led by University of Pennsylvania scientists has shown, using genomic techniques, that slight variations in the coding sequence of proteins that bind Salmonella to host cells can determine what type of animal a particular strain infects.
The work appears in Nature Communications.
"In Salmonella, we knew that many serovars are specific to one host; we didn't know why, but we knew that they are," said Dieter Schifferli, senior author on the paper and a professor of microbiology in Penn's School of Veterinary Medicine. "In this work, we found strong associations between different serovars' adhesin molecules and their preferred hosts, relationships that we then confirmed with work in the lab."
The research relies on what are known as genome-wide association studies, or GWAS, in which the genomes of various strains of Salmonella were partially sequenced and then compared, looking at key characteristics. This work made use of an enormous library of Salmonella maintained by Penn Vet. It contains thousands of different strains, as well as samples from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Pennsylvania Department of Health and Pasteur Institute.
The scientists first focused their analyses on Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, which is a leading cause of food poisoning but for which the molecular basis for host preferences is still a mystery.
********
|
|
5. FDA Approves Loading Dose for EPM Treatment
By Edited Press Release
TheHorse.com
November 2, 2015
It's another day at the barn, but you notice your horse stumbling and not walking like he normally does. He also seems mildly depressed. Are these subtle signs of a neurological disease? Could it be equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM)?
This common neurologic disease in horses caused by Sarcocystis neurona, a parasite that invades the brain and spinal cord. When undetected or untreated, EPM can cause serious damage to the horse's central nervous system and can be fatal in some cases. Opossums are definitive hosts for this parasite and horses become infected with EPM through contact with opossum feces by grazing or by eating contaminated feed.
When it's time for veterinarians and horse owners to take action against EPM, one option is a product called Marquis (15% w/w ponazuril), the first U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved treatment for EPM.
Recently, the FDA recently approved giving a loading dose (a larger dose on the first day) of the product to begin the treatment. A loading dose allows the drug's concentrations to approach a steady state-when the rate of input is equal to the rate of elimination-in 1 to 2 days, as opposed to eight days using the originally approved dosage regimen.
Full text:
********
|
|
6. Could Self-Disseminating Vaccines Cut Animal Disease Spread?
ThePoultrySite.com
November 2, 2015
GLOBAL - An expert has identified self-disseminating vaccines as a way to combat animal diseases such as avian influenza, and prevent them spreading to humans.
In an expert review published online today in Expert Review of Vaccines, Dr Michael Jarvis says self-disseminating vaccines are one potential way forward to deal with future pandemics, with potential to cut off such diseases at the animal source before they spread to human populations.
Dr Jarvis is a molecular virologist from Plymouth University School of Biomedical Sciences and is an expert on emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) and the use of self-disseminating vaccines to control them.
It is the first time that self-disseminating vaccines have been the subject of such a review.
EIDs are an increasing risk to human health. Modern human activity has an irreversible effect on the natural world. Widespread global travel, the spread of agriculture into wildlife habitats, deforestation and urbanisation are bringing humans and wildlife into unprecedented proximity.
In most cases animals are the source of EIDs - Ebola, HIV, avian flu, Hendra, SARS, MERS and Marburg are a selection of such diseases which have spread to human populations from animals. Most EIDs were entirely unknown before they entered the human population.
The challenge, identified in the expert review, is to discover vaccines for these diseases and find ways in which to deliver those vaccines to target animal populations.
How do the vaccines work?
Self-disseminating vaccines are designed to use virus-based vectors (cytomegalovirus - CMV), which are viruses that are unique to individual species but which have little or no significant impact on that species' health.
The vectors in effect become 'carriers' for the vaccine which allow for vaccination across populations where it is difficult to inoculate every animal.
********
|
|
7. Glen Ellen woman creates emergency rescue program for horses and livestock [CA]
By Dianne Reber Hart
The Press Democrat
November 2, 2015
Julie Atwood has long been concerned with the welfare of the horses and livestock that dot the landscape of Sonoma County, her home for nearly 40 years. What happens to them if disaster strikes, something unthinkable like a massive fire, flood, earthquake or landslide?
The Glen Ellen resident discovered that while detailed emergency services are in place to protect people and property, little is available locally to help the horses, cattle, sheep and other farmyard animals that are an important part of the economy and a treasured part of the area's charm.
Not one to let things go, Atwood, 60, established HALTER, Horse and Livestock Team Emergency Rescue, a grassroots program dedicated to securing necessary equipment and training first responders and community volunteers how to handle everything from an overturned trailer full of livestock on a roadside to saving animals stranded by natural disasters.
The UC-Davis School of Veterinary Medicine has a model all-volunteer Veterinary Emergency Response Team in place, and other California communities have programs similar to HALTER, including "one of the best ever" in San Mateo County and another in Los Angeles County that deploys all over Southern California, Atwood said.
In an agricultural area like Sonoma County, with dairies, ranches and considerable stables and equestrian-related businesses, Atwood believes, the community is positioned to become a leader in large-animal rescue resources, information and protocol.
Full text:
********
|
|
