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1. More deer with chronic wasting disease reported, with one outside of a CWD management area [MD - edited]
By Marcus Schneck
PennLive.com
March 29, 2016
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources found another five deer with chronic wasting disease in Allegany County, just south of Bedford County in southwestern Pennsylvania
The location of the five new cases in Maryland is south of the area of Pennsylvania that has seen 17 free-ranging deer with CWD since 2013 - Bedford, Blair and Fulton counties. Seven of those deer were uncovered last year.
Four of the five deer reported most recently were harvested in the Chronic Wasting Disease Management Area, in the eastern third of Allegany County. The other deer was taken near Cumberland, marking the first documented case outside of the Chronic Wasting Disease Management Area.
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2. UCI Scientists Receive $8 Million to Help Develop Q Fever Vaccine
Infection Control Today
March 29, 2016
A University of California, Irvine scientific team led by infectious diseases researchers Philip Felgner and Aaron Esser-Kahn has received $8 million from the U.S. Department of Defense's Defense Threat Reduction Agency to help develop a new vaccine for Q fever.
Caused by the Coxiella burnetii bacterium, Q fever is a highly infectious agent common among livestock. It has a history of being aerosolized for use in biological warfare and is considered a potential bioterrorism weapon.
Q fever is also a public health threat; a 2007-10 outbreak in the Netherlands affected thousands of people. Symptoms include high fever, nausea, severe headache and abdominal pain. It is rarely fatal.
"The current vaccine for Q fever is effective but has severe side effects that limit its widespread use," said Felgner, an adjunct professor of medicine at UCI. "It's a high priority that this vaccine be administered to members of the armed forces. Consequently, the military is interested in developing an alternative protective vaccine that's safer and does not cause adverse reactions."
Felgner will use an approach he pioneered at UCI to create whole proteome microarrays to discover immune response-activating antigen proteins that may be effective as a vaccine. Additionally, he'll collaborate with Esser-Kahn, assistant professor of chemistry, whose group will develop synthetic agents that can boost and control the immune response to these proteins.
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3. Health officials link E. Coli outbreak to Connecticut goat farm
Associated Press
New Haven Register
March 29, 2016
HARTFORD -- Connecticut health officials say they've linked more cases of E. Coli to a goat farm in Lebanon.
The Connecticut Department of Public Health said Monday it confirmed 15 cases of E. coli infection and linked 14 of them to Oak Leaf Dairy Farm in Lebanon.
That's eight more confirmed cases than last week, including two cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS. Six of the seven people had recently visited the farm. Patients range in age from 1 to 44 years old.
The farm is temporary closed to the public as a precaution.
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4. FDA and Health Canada announce first simultaneous review and approval of a veterinary drug for food-producing animals
FDA/CVM Update
March 29, 2016
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, in cooperation with Health Canada, announced today the simultaneous approval of Imrestor (pegbovigrastim injection), a new animal drug intended to reduce the incidence of clinical mastitis of dairy cows and replacement dairy heifers. This is the first simultaneously reviewed and approved animal drug for use in food-producing animals. Imrestor's approval marks the fourth animal drug approved under collaborative initiative with Canada. The other drugs approved under this initiative are: Simparica (Sarolaner Chewable Tablet), Comfortis (spinosad), and Bravecto (fluralaner).
The simultaneous approval of Imrestor was done under the Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC) Initiative which aims to better align the approval process for these products. The RCC is an agreement between the United States and Canada with a mandate of working together to promote economic growth, job creation, and benefits to consumers and business through increased regulatory transparency and coordination between the two countries. Under this initiative, FDA and Health Canada allow simultaneous submissions and collaborative reviews where possible, while maintaining each country's right to decide whether or not products will be approved for its market.
Elanco Animal Health, a Division of Eli Lilly & Co. sponsored the application for Imrestor.
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5. Revised Press Release For: "Reliable Drug" Recall of all Compounded Medications Due to a Potential for Mislabeling and Lack of Quality Assurance
FDA/CVM Press Release
March 25, 2016
Reliable Drug Pharmacy is voluntarily recalling all unexpired lots of compounded products due to concern of lack of quality assurance and potential mislabeling. All unexpired lots are subject to the recall. All recalled products were distributed to patients and veterinarians within California. A few products were shipped to Hawaii, New Mexico, and Michigan.
All recalled products have a label that includes Reliable Drug name or Reliable Compounding Pharmacy and expiration date. If unsure, Customers can call the pharmacy to determine the expiration date. This recall impacts all compounded products distributed between 03/24/2015 and 03/24/2016.
The recall was issued after a series of onsite inspections by the FDA. Out of an abundance of caution, Reliable Drug is voluntarily recalling all compounded product within expiry.
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6. New Study Finds "Ag-Gag" Laws Erode Trust in Farmers
By Andrew Amelinckx
Modern Farmer
March 29, 2016
A new study finds farm protection laws, also known as ag-gag laws by their detractors, which criminalize the undercover documenting of conditions at agricultural facilities erode trust in farmers and increase support for animal welfare legislation.
"Awareness of ag-gag laws erodes trust in farmers and increases support for animal welfare regulations," published in the latest edition of the journal Food Policy, found that there was a measurable reduction in trust in farmers by respondents in a nationally diverse sample of 716 U.S. adults who learned about ag-gag legislation. The drop in trust-dropping from "slightly trusting" to "slightly distrusting" farmers-was just as pronounced among the most initially trusting demographic categories (rural, conservative, omnivores) as it was among those least trusting (urban, liberal, vegetarians).
Ag-gag laws first sprang up in several U.S. Great Plains states in the early 1990s and then spread across the country beginning in 2011. Legislators who have penned the laws say it's about protecting privacy rights for an important industry. Opponents say the laws criminalize investigative journalism resulting in jail time for whistleblowers who expose unsafe or inhumane farming practices. Currently, eight states-Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, and North Carolina-have ag-gag laws on the books.
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7. Blackfeet bison project could return herd back to Glacier National Park, Badger Two Medicine [MT]
By Chris Peterson, Hungry Horse News
Flathead Publishing Group
March 28, 2016
Back in 1872 a Salish and Kootenai Warrior named Running Coyote was on the outs with the tribe. He had a wife on one side of the divide and a Blackfeet wife on the other side of the divide.
In an attempt to make amends, Running Coyote along with Blackfeet Warriors Greengrass Bull, Boy Chief and Calf Tail captured several buffalo calves near Buffalo Lake on Blackfeet lands and took them over the Continental Divide to the Salish and Kootenai as a gift.
It didn't work out for Running Coyote, he still wasn't forgiven. But the buffalo remained and two other men, Michel Pablo and James Allard took possession of the herd. About 26 years later, the reservation was opened up to homesteading and the free-ranging herd of about 300 animals had to go.
Then President Teddy Roosevelt wanted to purchase the animals, but Congress would have none of it, so Pablo, who now owned the remains of the herd, sold them to the Canadians. From 1906 to 1912 they were slowly, but surely, rounded up and taken across the border.
Meanwhile, the bison on the Blackfeet Reservation were all but wiped out by the 1890s in a campaign where the animals were slaughtered as a way for the white man to conquer Native Americans across the West.
Most of the Pablo herd went to Elk Island National Park near Edmonton, Alberta, where they have thrived in the 40,000 acre preserve for more than 100 years.
On April 4, the story will come full circle, Harry Barnes, Blackfeet Tribal Council chairman said last week. About 90 calves from the Elk Island herd, which have been quarantined and inoculated and tested for disease, will be trucked back to the reservation and released on a ranch along the Two Medicine River, not far from where their descendants were originally captured.
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