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1. Detective Veterinarian Pursues Mysterious Globe-Trotting Virus
By Amy Mayer
KCUR.org
December 14, 2015
Veterinarian and researcher Scott Dee doesn't much look the part of a detective, in his jeans and company polo shirt.
But when a virus never before seen in North America swept through the network of hog farms where he works, Pipestone Veterinary Services, in January 2014, he had his first clue.
"These farms had the same pattern of infection," Dee said.
Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea (PED) virus has killed millions of pigs over the past two and a half years, as much as a tenth of the total U.S. swine herd. While many consumers may not know much about it, they likely paid the price: the outbreak caused a sharp rise in the price of bacon, ribs, and chops during the summer of 2014.
Since then, Dee has played a researching role in an outbreak that has dramatically changed the meat industry, making a mild-mannered Minnesota veterinarian into a kind of germ gumshoe as he traced the virus from Beijing to Des Moines.
He's working fast. The industry fears that PED, not yet eradicated and known as a pernicious, intrepid world traveler, will come charging back this winter. PED spreads best in the cold, so Dee and other researchers are positioned to watch what unfolds in the coming months. And they're worried.
"I think we're going to have a year of increased case load because the national herd immunity will wane," Dee said, referring to sows who were exposed to the virus, recovered and could pass some protection on to their piglets. Many of those sows are now gone.
"People will relax, security-wise. We've been in a little bit of a recession for a while, in regards to PED, so people will go back to their old ways, that's just human nature."
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2. Study: Chronic Wasting Disease kills 19% of deer herd annually [WY]
By Angus M. Thuermer Jr.
WyoFile.com
December 15, 2015
Chronic Wasting Disease will cause a Wyoming deer herd to go virtually extinct in 41 years, a five-year study predicts.
The investigation, which relied on the capture of 143 deer, examined the dynamics in the Southern Converse County Mule Deer Herd that lives southwest of Douglas near Laramie Peak. There, a population that once numbered some 14,000 in the early 2000s dwindled to half that size in about a decade.
The Chronic Wasting Disease study is one of only three that have been conducted on wild deer, elk or moose herds, none of which have yet seen print. While wildlife managers have long suspected CWD as a principle agent in the ravaged Converse herd, the study puts numbers on the problem, calculating a 19 percent decline annually.
University of Wyoming doctoral student Melia DeVivo spent four years of fieldwork and another year crunching numbers before defending her PhD thesis on the herd. She calculated the herd would go extinct in 41 years, without taking into account genetic differences that make some deer more resistant to CWD, or accounting for deer migration into the area. Even when taking in those factors, the herd will decline dramatically, she said.
"I estimated that CWD was causing a 19 percent annual reduction in the population, which is pretty significant," she said. "Potentially, in 41 years, it would be locally extinct."
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3. State considers mandatory testing of deer for chronic wasting disease [MO]
Brad Bergner
Columbia Missourian
December 14, 2015
COLUMBIA - The state wants hunters in Boone and other designated counties to have their deer tested for chronic wasting disease during opening weekend of next year's firearm hunting season.
Recommendations for mandatory testing for the disease were approved Friday by the Missouri Conservation Commission for counties in chronic wasting management zones.
The regulations would also prohibit feeding deer and the use of other attractants like grain, salt and mineral products inside the management zones, Joe Jerek, a spokesman for the Department of Conservation, said.
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4. Minnesota lifts final remaining bird flu quarantines
Associated Press
Mankato Free Press
December 15, 2015
ST. PAUL - Minnesota has lifted the last remaining quarantines on poultry farms that were infected with highly pathogenic bird flu, marking a milestone in the state's recovery from an outbreak that cost its turkey and egg producers over 9 million birds.
The Board of Animal Health says 90 percent of the 108 infected farms were cleared to restock by Oct. 6. In a statement Friday, it says the few remaining sites have now completed the cleaning, disinfection and testing needed to gain approval for restocking.
Minnesota confirmed its last case June 5. The Board says restocked poultry on all the affected farms have tested negative, providing additional assurances that the H5N2 virus has been eradicated from Minnesota.
While State Veterinarian Bill Hartmann says that's encouraging, he cautions that future cases remain possible.
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5. Antibiotic use rises with larger livestock populations
By John Maday, Editor, Bovine Veterinarian
Pork Network.com
December 15, 2015
The FDA last week released its annual report on antibiotic use in food animals, showing a year-over-year increase in line with expanding cattle and hog inventories.
The "2014 Summary Report on Antimicrobials Sold or Distributed for Use in Food-Producing Animals" shows domestic sales and distribution of antimicrobials approved for use in food-producing animals increased by 22 percent from 2009 through 2014, and increased by 4 percent from 2013 through 2014.
Between 2013 and 2014, U.S. cattle inventories increased by 2.4 percent, from 87.7 million to 89.8 million. During the same time, numbers of U.S. hogs and pigs increased by 7.1 percent from 61.5 million to 65.9 million, according to the USDA. Together, cattle and hog inventories grew by about 4.3 percent from 2013 through 2014. Broiler inventories during the same period remained flat, with a year-over-year increase of less than 1 percent.
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6. USDA Finalizes Ground Meat Safety Rule
By Linda Larsen
Food Poisoning Bulletin
December 14, 2015
The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today that it has finalized a rule to ensure that retailers can track sources of ground meats. Those products are often recalled and linked to food poisoning outbreaks. FSIS is requiring that all makers of raw ground beef products keep records of the source material so the agency can work with suppliers to recall contaminated products.
Ground Beef on PaperGround beef is often made with beef cuts that come from various sources. That increases the likelihood that contaminated meat will further contaminate a large amount of ground beef, and it makes the government's work on tracing suppliers much more difficult. When stores make ground beef by combining beef from different sources and do not keep clear records, recalls become more complicated.
This new requirement complements expedited traceback and trace forward procedures that were announced by FSIS in August 2014. Those requirements enhance the government's ability to quickly investigate food safety breakdowns when an outbreak connected to ground beef occurs.
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7. Brucellosis and Bovine Tuberculosis; Update of General Provisions; Proposed Rule
Federal Register Volume 80, Number 241 (Wednesday, December 16, 2015)
Proposed Rules
Pages 78461-78520
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-31510]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
9 CFR Parts 50, 51, 71, 76, 77, 78, 86, 93, and 161
Docket No. APHIS-2011-0044
RIN 0579-AD65
Brucellosis and Bovine Tuberculosis; Update of General Provisions
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Proposed rule.
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SUMMARY: We are proposing to consolidate the regulations governing bovine tuberculosis, and those governing brucellosis. As part of this consolidation, we are proposing to transition the tuberculosis and brucellosis programs away from a State classification system based in disease prevalence. Instead, States and Tribes would implement animal health plans that identify sources of the diseases within the State or Tribal lands and specify mitigations to address the risk posed by those sources. The consolidated regulations would also set forth standards for surveillance, epidemiological investigations, and affected herd management that must be incorporated into each animal health plan, with certain limited exceptions; would provide revised conditions for the interstate movement of cattle, bison, and captive cervids; and would provide revised conditions for APHIS approval of tests, testing laboratories, and testers for bovine tuberculosis or brucellosis. Finally, we are proposing to revise the bovine tuberculosis- and brucellosis-related import requirements for cattle and bison to make these requirements clearer and assure that they more effectively mitigate the risk of introduction of these diseases into the United States.
DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before March 15, 2016.
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