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1. Update on EHV-1 Virus at Sunland Park Racetrack
New Mexico Livestock Board Press Release
February 15, 2016
(SUNLAND PARK, N.M.) - To simplify our reporting on the rapidly-changing EHV-1 virus outbreak at the Sunland Park Racetrack, we will update the list below regularly with the most current information. While the situation warrants, we will also e-mail blast this information as it is updated.
Latest Information:
Number of horses diagnosed positive for the EHV-1 virus to-date: 70
Number of horses released today from the isolation barn: 5
Number of exposed barns that have been returned to non-exposed status
to-date: 15
List of facilities within the quarantine perimeter:
Sunland Park Racetrack and Frontera Training Center.
Biosecurity measures among horsemen and women are still necessary, such as taking temperatures twice a day, handwashing, washing/disinfecting anything a horse has touched or could touch, etc.
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2. Genome offers clues on thwarting reviled, disease-carrying ticks [edited]
By Will Dunham
Reuters
February 10, 2016
Scientists have unlocked the genetic secrets of one of the least-loved creatures around, the tick species that spreads Lyme disease, in research that may lead to new methods to control these diminutive arachnids that dine on blood.
The researchers said on Tuesday they have sequenced the genome of Ixodes scapularis, known as the deer tick or blacklegged tick, which transmits Lyme and other diseases by chomping through the skin of people and animals and releasing infected saliva as they devour blood.
The study identified more than 24,000 genes involving traits such as blood-meal digestion, manipulation of the immune response of the host being bitten to permit long periods of feeding, and detoxification of compounds such as insecticides.
Cracking the tick's DNA code may expose vulnerabilities that can be exploited with new insecticides, repellents or other methods to control this parasite that thrives in wooded and grassy areas.
For example, the researchers gained insight into how the ticks regulate excretion and manage the large volume of blood they ingest, providing a possible target for new ways to control them.
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3. Swine Disease Matrix prioritizes pathogens of threat
By American Association of Swine Veterinarians
PorkNetwork
February 12, 2016
The Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) recently released a prioritized list of pathogens of threat on a Swine Disease Matrix (view pdf here: http://www.swinehealth.org/fact-sheets/). SHIC will use the Swine Disease Matrix to prioritize 2016 actions and research. Immediate next steps include creation of additional educational fact sheets beyond the 25 fact sheets already prepared as well as identification of US pork industry preparedness gaps. The center understands that being ready to test is critical to preparedness. First and foremost, SHIC is responding to identified preparedness gaps by coordinating development of any missing diagnostic capabilities. Executive director Paul Sundberg explained at the recent Minnesota Pork Congress and Iowa Pork Congress that awareness and readiness are what US swine veterinarians and producers need for effective emerging disease response. [Source: SHIC, 2/1016]
As a disease readiness example, a high morbidity and high mortality strain of pseudorabies virus (PRV) that is more pathogenic than the strain that was eradicated in the U.S. has emerged in China. This is the sort of disease that needs increased US readiness. Therefore, it was included and prioritized on the Swine Disease Matrix.
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4. Iowa State veterinary researcher will update study on economic impact of costly disease in pigs
Iowa State Univ. News
February 11, 2016
AMES, Iowa - An Iowa State University veterinarian is crunching updated numbers to determine the current economic impact of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, thought to be the costliest disease to threaten the pork industry.
Derald Holtkamp, an associate professor of veterinary diagnostic and production animal medicine, is undertaking a three-year study to determine if recent management practices implemented by pork producers to combat the virus are curbing the monetary losses the industry has sustained for decades.
The effort, funded by a grant from the National Pork Board, will update a previous study Holtkamp released in 2012 that pegged the pork industry's annual losses due to the virus at $664 million.
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5. Northwest Indiana officials help fight avian influenza outbreak [edited]
By Teresa Auch Schultz, Post-Tribune
Chicago Tribune
February 12, 2016
When avian influenza hit a number of turkey farms in southern Indiana last month, they sought help from emergency officials in Northwest Indiana.
A crew of 13 members from the Indiana Department of Homeland Security's District 1 went to Dubois County on Jan. 21 to help oversee efforts to combat the disease, which hit about 10 turkey farms.
The outbreak brought in more than 100 officials from both the federal and state government to fight to keep the flu from spreading. Officials had to set up procedures to euthanize and compost about 500,000 birds at the farms and ensure proper safety precautions were in place to keep everyone involved safe and the disease from spreading, Mike Weber, deputy director of the Porter County Emergency Management Agency, said.
Tom Bettenhausen, the Emergency Medical Services coordinator at Community Hospital in Munster, said the team was called to help because Dubois County's resources were overtaxed.
"Obviously, the local resources are going to be busy," he said. "We're able to go in with fresh minds."
Bettenhausen said everyone from Northwest Indiana went with a specific mission, whether it was to oversee logistics, coordinate with state and government officials or overseeing food for all the workers.
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6. Vaccinate Texas Horses for EEE, WNV
By Edited Press Release
February 14, 2016
In 2015, the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (TVMDL) confirmed 38 cases of West Nile virus (WNV) and six cases of Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) in Texas horses.
The positive cases were found from the panhandle to Dallas, to south Texas and the Houston area. The southeastern region of the state had the most positive cases.
The common factor in each case was confirmation from the owner or veterinarian that the horse had not been vaccinated against these common neurologic diseases. As such, Terry S. Hensley, MS, DVM, TVMDL assistant director and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service veterinarian, recommends that all Texas horses should be vaccinated annually because of the state's history with WNV and EEE.
"Horse owners may want to save a few dollars by not vaccinating their horse for some of the diseases they see as uncommon to their home area," he said. "But the wide geographic range of cases in 2015 dispels the belief that only horses in areas of the Texas with higher rainfall are susceptible to these mosquito-borne diseases."
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7. Okeechobee County, Florida, Horse Tests Positive for EIA
By Erica Larson, News Editor
TheHorse.com
February 12, 2016
A horse in Okeechobee County, Florida, has tested positive for equine infectious anemia (EIA), the Equine Disease Communication Center (EDCC) reported Feb. 11.
"The (affected premises) and all horses with 200 yards surrounding the (premises) are currently under quarantine until further testing of the animals are complete," the EDCC statement read. "An epidemiological trace is underway."
This is the first EIA case for both Okeechobee County and the state of Florida for 2016, the EDCC said.
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