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1. Despite bird flu threat, producers say no thanks to vaccine
Alan Bjerga and Bloomberg
The Chicago Tribune
January 8, 2016
WASHINGTON - Determined to avoid a repeat of the nation's worst-ever avian-influenza outbreak, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is stockpiling up to 500 million doses of a new vaccine -- but many in the $48 billion poultry industry don't want it.
While turkey farmers hit hard by the most-recent outbreak support the shots, chicken producers say vaccinating even a portion of their flocks would prompt foreign buyers to ban imports. Last year, commercial operations in 15 states were affected by the disease, claiming 50 million birds mostly from egg-laying operations and costing the industry $3.3 billion.
"As soon as you vaccinate any bird, you are telling the world bird flu is endemic, and countries are going to stop buying from us, some of them for years," said Ashley Peterson, science and technology vice president for the National Chicken Council.
U.S. poultry producers remain on edge after 67 cases of the highly contagious form of avian influenza were found in France. The U.S. outbreak, which ended in June, led to record egg prices and imports and cut turkey supplies for the Thanksgiving holiday.
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2. NJ horse farm cleared in virus scare
Russ Zimmer
Asbury Park Press
January 8, 2016
No horses on a New Jersey farm have shown symptoms of a deadly virus nearly a month after an infected horse visited for an exhibition, according to the New Jersey Department of Agriculture
It's been 27 days since a Pennsylvania horse was somewhere in the Garden State - the agriculture department won't say where - for a weekend show before that horse was discovered to be carrying the EHV-1 virus.
The show horse and two others developed EHM, which is a neurological diseases associated with the virus, and were euthanized.
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3. CWD Leads to Deer Feeding Ban in Vilas, Forest and Oneida Counties [WI]
WJJQ.com
January 8, 2016
Feeding deer in several northwoods counties will be limited due to the discovery of chronic wasting disease late last year.
That deer was discovered on a game farm near Three Lakes in Oneida County in December. As a result, a ban on baiting or feeding will go into effect on Monday for not only Oneida, but also Vilas and Forest Counties.
State law requires that the DNR enact a ban on feeding and baiting of deer in counties or portions of counties within a 10-mile radius of the infected deer's location. Both Forest and Vilas Counties fell within that distance.
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4. How pigs are helping researchers tackle antibiotic resistance [Australia]
MedicalXpress.com
January 8, 2016
Scientists at UTS [Univ. of Technology, Sydney] are tackling the growing health crisis of antibiotic resistance at its most significant source - the farmyard.
In a three-year collaboration with the NSW Department of Primary Industries, Steven Djordjevic, Professor of Infectious Diseases in the ithree Institute, will lead a team exploring how gut bacteria in pigs respond to antibiotics and probiotics.
"This project will allow us to understand how antibiotic resistance develops and how it moves within complex microbial communities - in other words, to understand the behaviour of gut flora," says Professor Djordjevic.
"We can't solve this problem unless we understand the ecology of resistance and to do that we need new methods of investigation.
"The project will also provide new baseline knowledge of what constitutes healthy porcine gastrointestinal tract flora and how that flora is affected by antibiotic and probiotic formulations."
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5. Oregon Zoo staff infected by tuberculosis after exposure to infected elephants
By Lynne Terry
The Oregonian
January 8, 2016
Seven staff at the Oregon Zoo were infected with tuberculosis following an outbreak starting in 2013 among three bull elephants - Packy, his son Rama and Tusko.
The seven people who developed a latent form of the disease without symptoms had close contact with the elephants, according to a report published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An eighth person, a volunteer, also developed a mysterious case of tuberculosis.
None of those people were infectious and nobody in the public was at risk, said Dr. Jennifer Vines, deputy health officer for Multnomah County.
The report adds to the somewhat thin knowledge about the transmission of tuberculosis from elephants to people, Vines said. The good news is that even though TB is highly contagious, the three infected elephants at the zoo did not spread the disease to visitors, including those who attended one of Rama's painting parties in which he created splatter paintings.
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6. Kansas warns of man pretending to be veterinarian
Associated Press
Arkcity.net
January 8, 2016
ARKANSAS CITY (AP) - The Kansas Board of Veterinary Examiners is seeking information about a man who is reportedly impersonating a veterinarian.
The board said 49-year-old Danny Thomas is using the alias Chase McKnight.
KWCH-TV reported the man treated several horses and has done free spay and neutering services in Cowley County.
He's described as a white man, 5-foot-4, 160 pounds, with blue eyes and black hair.
Kansas Agriculture Department spokesman Jason Walker said Walker said Thomas has never been a licensed veterinarian in Kansas, and no one named Chase McKnight has ever had a license either.
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7. Drug Compounding for Animals: FDA Could Improve Oversight with Better Information and Guidance [Reissued on January 8, 2016] - edited
GAO-15-671: Published: Sep 28, 2015. Publicly Released: Sep 28, 2015.
What GAO Found
Drugs compounded for animals offer certain medical benefits but also pose risks of causing harm or being ineffective. Specifically, drugs compounded for animals can serve as treatment options when no suitable drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is available. For example, no FDA-approved drugs exist to treat megacolon-a potentially lethal form of constipation-in cats, so veterinarians rely on a compounded drug for treatment. Drugs compounded for animals can also pose risks of serious harm or may be ineffective if they contain too much or too little of an active ingredient, according to scientific studies and veterinary experts. However, FDA has acknowledged that it is not practical for the agency to approve each drug compounded for every animal that requires one; as a result these drugs are not reviewed for safety and effectiveness. In addition, because states have primarily exercised responsibility for pharmacies that compound drugs for animals, the states and not FDA generally review pharmacy compounding processes.
The extent to which drugs are compounded for animals is unknown because the information FDA and states collect is not aggregated or comprehensive for various reasons. First, unlike animal drug manufacturers, drug compounding pharmacies do not have to register with FDA. Second, although FDA and states try to share information about drug compounding pharmacies with each other, due to some states' privacy and confidentiality laws this information sharing is impacted. For example, FDA officials told GAO that some states are unable to share information about the results of their pharmacy inspections with FDA because of their states' privacy laws. Finally, FDA does not know the extent to which compounded drugs are associated with adverse events, in part because the form used to voluntarily report such events does not ask if a compounded drug was involved. Federal standards for internal control state that agencies are to obtain information from stakeholders that may have a significant impact on achieving its goals. By not asking for compounded drug information on its reporting form, FDA is missing an opportunity to inform its enforcement actions regarding animal drug compounding.
What GAO Recommends
GAO recommends that FDA modify its reporting form, develop guidance for agency staff regulating compounding for animals, and document consistently the bases for its regulatory actions. FDA generally agreed with GAO's recommendations.
For more information, contact Steve D. Morris at (202) 512-3841 or morriss@gao.gov.
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