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1. Producers prep for antibiotic change
By Jeff DeYoung
Iowa Farmer Today
November 12, 2015
More than a year remains before livestock producers will be dealing with changes in how they use antibiotics.
How producers are going to adjust is something that should be on their minds, says Grant Dewell, Extension beef veterinarian with Iowa State University.
"Since they have until the end of next year to make those changes, I don't think many producers are thinking about it," he says. "But this spring, I would guess many will be looking at their programs and starting to make some changes."
The new guidelines from the FDA restrict the use of antibiotics as a growth promotant.
Antibiotics may still be used to prevent, control and treat illness, but only with veterinarian oversight. The changes take effect Jan. 1, 2017.
"It's going to put a lot of pressure on veterinarians," Dewell says. "They expect antibiotic usage to go down, and they are putting that on the veterinarians. It's going to be difficult for us, but we also recognize it's an important issue."
He says the diversity of the U.S. cattle industry makes it more difficult than perhaps other species, where systems are more confined.
"Some of these smaller producers may see their veterinarian once a year, so it's going to be quite a change," Dewell says.
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2. Bat-killing Fungus Reaches Nebraska
Western United States May Be Next in Line for Spread of Epidemic
Center for Biological Diversity Press Release
November 12, 2015
LINCOLN, Neb.- State and federal wildlife officials announced today that a bat-killing fungus that has swept across the eastern United States and Canada over the past eight years, killing millions of bats, has been confirmed by scientists in eastern Nebraska. Samples taken from bats in a mine in Cass County, Neb. at the end of last winter tested positive for the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome; the bat species found with the fungus were northern long-eared bats, tricolored bats and big brown bats.
The highly lethal disease that follows the fungus is not yet present, but this early detection is likely a precursor to the disease's full-blown appearance in two to three years. Mortality rates among some species, such as northern long-eared bats, have reached 99 percent in many bat colonies in the East and Midwest.
"The spread of white-nose syndrome has been an extinction tsunami sweeping out of the eastern United States. Eventually it is going to break in the West, and there, it will encounter many new bat species potentially vulnerable to the disease," said Mollie Matteson, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. "Given the failure of state and federal wildlife agencies to provide the strong, additional legal protections several eastern bats now need to survive, the prospects for western bats are troubling."
White-nose syndrome has spread to 26 states since it first appeared in North America in 2006. Bats in Mississippi, Minnesota and Oklahoma have tested positive for the fungus. Nebraska now joins the list of states where the fungus has been detected.
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3. Texas Equine WNV Count Plateaus at 33 [edited]
By Edited Press Release
TheHorse.com
November 12, 2015
The total number of Texas horses testing positive for West Nile virus (WNV) has plateaued at 33.
The number of positive results confirmed in equine tested by the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (TVMDL) has remained at this level for two weeks. The cooler fall weather brings mosquito relief for much of the state, which aids in slowing the spread of this disease.
This year's distribution of positive cases dispels the general public's belief that WNV is only a threat in low-lying or coastal areas, as positive cases were found from the Panhandle to Dallas and from South Texas to the Houston area. In many of the positive cases, the horse had not been vaccinated.
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4. USEF Announces New Equine Vaccination Rule
By Edited Press Release
TheHorse.com
November 12, 2015
In January, the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) Board of Directors approved an addition to the rule book, which outlines equine vaccination requirements at licensed competitions.
Beginning Dec. 1, all horses entering the grounds of a USEF-licensed competition must be accompanied by documentation of equine influenza virus and equine herpesvirus (EHV, also known as rhinopneumonitis) vaccinations within six months prior to entering the stables.
Due to several high-profile EHV outbreaks in recent years that have involved the neuropathogenic strain of the virus (called equine herpesvirus myeloencephalopathy, or EHM), some competitions have placed vaccination requirements on their competitors that go beyond most accepted medical opinions and raise concern that unnecessary requirements can potentially put a horse at risk. The intent of this rule is to ensure that all licensed competitions comply with the vaccination guidelines for equine influenza and rhinopneumonitis published by the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP). These guidelines are reviewed by infectious disease experts regularly, and recommend vaccinating competition horses at six-month intervals for both influenza and rhinopneumonitis. There is not a vaccine labeled to provide protection against EHM.
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5. Groups, Governor Wary of Animal Activist Presence in Nebraska
By We Support Agriculture
KTICRadio.com
November 12, 2015
Activities over the past week at and near the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (MARC) in Clay Center, Nebraska, have raised concerns among livestock farmers, livestock organizations, and Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agriculture Research Service (ARS) hosted animal welfare organization representatives at a meeting on MARC's properties. USDA reportedly was going to consider adding another veterinarian at MARC and look more closely at the Easycare sheep program. The meeting was organized by USDA in response to the possibility of a Congressional mandate for it, according to Ansley Mick, executive director of We Support Agriculture, a Lincoln-based organization representing a coalition of livestock groups. Mick said both The Humane Society of the United States and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals were invited to the meeting.
News of the meeting prompted Governor Ricketts to write U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to express his concerns. In a letter dated Nov. 10, Gov. Ricketts said he did not believe any effort by USDA officials at transparency at MARC would be effective with animal rights organizations.
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6. Engineered bat virus stirs debate over risky research
Lab-made coronavirus related to SARS can infect human cells.
By Declan Butler
Nature.com
November 12, 2015
An experiment that created a hybrid version of a bat coronavirus - one related to the virus that causes SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) - has triggered renewed debate over whether engineering lab variants of viruses with possible pandemic potential is worth the risks.
In an article published in Nature Medicine on 9 November, scientists investigated a virus called SHC014, which is found in horseshoe bats in China. The researchers created a chimaeric virus, made up of a surface protein of SHC014 and the backbone of a SARS virus that had been adapted to grow in mice and to mimic human disease. The chimaera infected human airway cells - proving that the surface protein of SHC014 has the necessary structure to bind to a key receptor on the cells and to infect them. It also caused disease in mice, but did not kill them.
Although almost all coronaviruses isolated from bats have not been able to bind to the key human receptor, SHC014 is not the first that can do so. In 2013, researchers reported this ability for the first time in a different coronavirus isolated from the same bat population.
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7. As Drone Use Grows, Reps Eye Threat from Bioterrorism
By Meghan Mitchum
SecurityDebrief.com
November 12, 2015
On November 3, the House Homeland Security Committee held a hearing on efforts to guard against bioterrorism in the United States. Former Senator Lieberman, former DHS Secretary Tom Ridge, and Dr. Leonard Cole, Director of the Terror Medicine and Security Program from Rutgers Medical School, addressed the prominent threat of bioterrorism (which my fellow Security Debrief contributor David Olive wrote about in a recent post).
In what should be a highly noted hearing on a strong proposal to increase our nation's fight against terrorism, one representative noted what might be the most alarming progression of technology in bioterrorism: the use of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV, or more commonly, "drone") to deliver a biological weapon. Representative Duncan Hunter (R-CA) spoke about the ease with which a bio-weapon could be delivered via drone by way of the U.S.-Mexico border. Drones are already being used for a range of activities, such as delivering packages for Amazon, monitoring poachers of endangered animals on African reservations, and even for herding sheep in Ireland. For all their utility, drones are also posing new security threats, such as the risk of unmanned aircraft flying over stadiums or intercepting commercial airplanes' flight paths.
More recently, and as Representative Duncan cited, drones have been used to smuggle drugs over vulnerable borders.
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