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1. Bartlett horse farm rebounds after herpes virus claims 5 animals [IL-edited]
By Barbara Vitello
The Daily Herald
March 29, 2016
Devastated.
That's how horse lovers associated with Sunset Hill Farm described their emotions as five of their beloved animals succumbed to the Equine Herpes Virus since late January.
State officials issued a quarantine then, which they lifted about two weeks ago. The Bartlett farm, which subsequently imposed its own voluntary quarantine as a precaution, is now virus-free. Three of the horses that tested positive for the virus survived and no horse has tested positive for the virus for at least 28 days.
The quarantine all but shut down Sunset Hill operations, said Georgette Litchfield, whose family has owned the farm for more than 60 years. The deaths affected them far more profoundly than the loss of income.
Devastating to horses and owners, Equine Herpes Virus is a disease veterinarians hope to never see, said Dr. Kati Lukas, an equine veterinarian from Barrington.
"When you come into a barn that has tested positive for infectious disease you plan for the worst and hope for the best," said Lukas, who calls EHV one of the worst equine illnesses. "It can spread like wildfire."
Several owners who board their horses at Sunset Hill praised the couple and their employees for the extraordinary biosecurity they implemented under the direction of Lukas, who devised protocols that included daily cleaning and disinfecting of the stalls and equipment. Lukas' measures also included wrapping the stalls in plastic sheeting and supplying protective clothing for staff members and owners.
All that's left now, Litchfield said, is for legislation that will make it mandatory for veterinarians to report EHV cases, something which 39 states require. Illinois is not among them. Lukas wants that to change.
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2. Former NHF editor Neal Black passes away
National Hog Farmer
March 30, 2016
[Neal was also the winner of the 2010 USAHA Medal of Distinction; we send our condolences to his family.]
Longtime National Hog Farmer staff member Neal Black passed away March 20 in Eagan, Minn.
According to Black's obituary, courtesy of Joseph S. Klecatsky & Sons Funeral & Cremation Services in Eagan, Black joined National Hog Farmer in 1957 as managing editor. He moved up to editor in 1973.
Prior to joining the National Hog Farmer, he worked at the Waterloo, Iowa, Courier as a reporter and farm editor after graduating from the University of Iowa in 1949. The next year he was drafted into the Army and served in Japan and Korea with the 45th Division as an infantry rifle squad leader, earning the combat infantry badge, and as battalion sergeant major, discharged after 21 months as a master sergeant.
Black was widely known throughout agriculture for his monthly column in National Hog Farmer in which he commented on many subjects in addition to agriculture. It was also late in the late-1950s that he began active participation in party politics which continued after the National Hog Farmer was moved to Minnesota in 1965 and for some 40 years after.
He resigned as editor of National Hog Farmer in 1980 to join Livestock Conservation Institute as president, retiring in 1986. In 1981, while still with the LCI, he joined with four internationally known swine veterinarians to create a monthly newsletter, International Pigletter, which he edited until 1994. He served as secretary of the National Pseudorabies Control Board from 1986-97. He served on the Foreign Animal and Poultry Advisory Committee to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture from 1984-89. He served as president and a member of the board of directors of Gramercy Park Cooperative of Eagan from 2001-02. He was co-author of part of a history of the National Pork Producers Council, author of "A Century of Progress" a history of the U.S. Animal Health Association, his autobiography "70 Years of Typos," co-authored a history of the Black family with his sister, Lois Beach, and was co-author of a history of the pseudorabies eradication effort published by the USDA. From 2004-09 he edited the newsletter of the Senior Housing Network.
[ For Neal's formal obituary, please see: http://tinyurl.com/j47pbpz ]
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3. Sustainable pork production focus of a new website
National Hog Farmer
March 29, 2016
A new website focused entirely on sustainable, responsible and successful pork production was launched this week to bring news, trends, research updates and commentary to all links of the global pork chain.
Called Voice of Sustainable Pork, the website brings together what it calls the four P's of sustainability - pigs, pork, people, planet - to, in the words of the United Nations, meet "the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
Visitors can also sign up for Voice of Sustainable Pork's free e-newsletter, which will highlight major stories on the website and contribute to the pork industry's ongoing conversation about becoming more sustainable. The pork industry also can follow Voice of Sustainable Pork on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ and YouTube.
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4. Eastern Equine Encephalitis Basics
By Equine Disease Quarterly
TheHorse.com
March 30, 2016
Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) is an annual disease threat to horses in the Gulf and Atlantic Coast states and the Great Lakes region. Cases have been reported as far north as Canada and from some inland states such as Iowa, Arkansas, and Kentucky.
The causative agent, Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV), is silently maintained by a songbird/mosquito transmission cycle. Infected ornithophilic ("birdloving") Culiseta melanura mosquitoes living near freshwater hardwood marshes transmit EEEV to nestling songbirds; subsequently, new hatches of mosquitoes acquire the virus by biting the infected birds. The ecological range of C. melanura limits the westward extent of EEEV infections.
While songbirds do not become ill from the infection, transmission of EEEV to other birds, horses, or humans can cause disease. Transmission of EEEV to mammalian hosts involves mosquito vectors with broader feeding habits such as Aedes spp. In temperate regions, EEE cases in horses have a summer/fall seasonality with few cases occurring in cool months and complete cessation in the winter. In subtropical regions such as Florida, there is year-round risk of EEE transmission with a peak in the summer months. Horses and humans are not part of natural maintenance of EEEV as they do not produce sufficient viremia to allow transmission to mosquitoes; instead, they are considered dead-end hosts.
Once an equid is infected by a mosquito bite, clinical signs can appear in 5 to 15 days. EEEV infections in horses, mules, or donkeys are typically severe and up to 90% of ill horses do not survive. Clinical signs range from fever and/or dull mentation (thus the old name "sleeping sickness") to blindness, loss of coordination (ataxia), head pressing, inability to rise, seizures, and death. Fevers in the acute clinical phase can be very high (105-106�F).
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5. IIAD hosts OIE officials
By Texas A&M University
Bovine Veterinarian
March 30, 2016
On March 2, the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVM) and Institute for Infectious Animal Diseases (IIAD), a unit of Texas A&M AgriLife Research, co-hosted Dr. Monique Eloit, director general of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). Eloit's visit facilitated the exchange of ideas for how the University and OIE can work together on global animal health challenges and built on Texas A&M University and AgriLife's numerous international collaborations. Joining Eloit at the meeting were Sujiro Seam, consul general of France at Houston and his scientific attach�, Robin Faideau. The meeting was facilitated by Dr. Jim Butler, an international livestock consultant.
The visit began with an overview of OIE and Eloit's work, including opportunities for scientific partnership between the OIE and universities. Eloit was then briefed on IIAD by Dr. Gerald Parker, interim director; Dr. Melissa Berquist, associate director; and Dr. Elizabeth Parker, chief veterinarian. The Institute was established in 2004 as a Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Center of Excellence and, in 2014, was recognized by the OIE as a Collaborating Centre in the specialty of biological threat reduction.
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6. USDA Announces $5.2 Million For Nanotechnology Research
Eleven Universities Receive Grants to Research Food Safety, Plant and Animal Health, Other Uses for Nanotechnology Solutions
USDA News Release
March 30, 2016
WASHINGTON - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced an investment of more than $5.2 million to support nanotechnology research at 11 universities. The universities will research ways nanotechnology can be used to improve food safety, enhance renewable fuels, increase crop yields, manage agricultural pests, and more. The awards were made through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), the nation's premier competitive, peer-reviewed grants program for fundamental and applied agricultural sciences.
"In the seven years since the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative was established, the program has led to true innovations and ground-breaking discoveries in agriculture to combat childhood obesity, improve and sustain rural economic growth, address water availability issues, increase food production, find new sources of energy, mitigate the impacts of climate variability and enhance resiliency of our food systems, and ensure food safety. Nanoscale science, engineering, and technology are key pieces of our investment in innovation to ensure an adequate and safe food supply for a growing global population," said Vilsack. "The President's 2017 Budget calls for full funding of the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative so that USDA can continue to support important projects like these."
Universities receiving funding include Auburn University in Auburn, Ala.; Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven, Conn.; University of Central Florida in Orlando, Fla; University of Georgia in Athens, Ga.; Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa; University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Mass.; Mississippi State University in Starkville, Miss.; Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Mo.; Clemson University in Clemson, S.C.; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Va.; and University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wis.
With this funding, Auburn University proposes to improve pathogen monitoring throughout the food supply chain by creating a user-friendly system that can detect multiple foodborne pathogens simultaneously, accurately, cost effectively, and rapidly. Mississippi State University will research ways nanochitosan can be used as a combined fire-retardant and antifungal wood treatment that is also environmentally safe. Experts in nanotechnology, molecular biology, vaccines and poultry diseases at the University of Wisconsin will work to develop nanoparticle-based poultry vaccines to prevent emerging poultry infections. USDA has a full list of projects and longer descriptions available online.
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