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1. Alternative trich sampling method
By John Maday, Editor
Bovine Veterinarian
April 7, 2016
Veterinarians at Iowa State University (ISU) have been testing an alternative method for collecting samples from bulls for trichomoniasis testing. ISU Extension Veterinarian Grant Dewell, DVM, MS, PhD, described the technique during the recent Academy of Veterinary Consultants (AVC) spring conference.
In infected bulls, the protozoa Tritrichomonas foetus live in the preputial folds of the penis. The typical sampling technique involves a preputial scraping to collect smegma from below the mucosal surface of the prepuce using a rigid pipette. The procedure can be painful to the bull, especially if repeated several times, and if done improperly can cause injury to the bull. The method also creates some safety risk for the veterinarian and can be inconsistent.
In an ISU survey of 50 veterinarians, just 25% felt comfortable with performing preputial scraping while 33% indicated they were uncomfortable with the procedure. To address this issue, the ISU team worked to identify a method that would be easier, safer for the animal and the veterinarian and consistently sensitive.
The new method uses a 4-inch by 4-inch gauze sponge to collect the sample during a bull-soundness exam (BSE). At the time of electro-stimulation for semen collection, the veterinarian uses the sponge to swab around the glans and the shaft of the penis. Then the veterinarian places the sponge into the upper chamber of the "InPouch" delivery container and pushes fluid up from the lower chamber to saturate the sponge. They can then send the container to a diagnostic lab just as they would with a typical sample from preputial scraping. Other containers can also work, and veterinarians should check with their diagnostic labs for guidance. Dewell notes the veterinarian needs to change gloves after sampling each bull to avoid contaminating samples.
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2. LDWF monitoring for CWD in state's white-tailed deer population [LA]
LouisianaSportsman.com
April 7, 2016
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is actively monitoring the state's deer herd for chronic wasting disease, a fatal brain infection that has already been found in both Arkansas and Texas.
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is actively monitoring the state's deer herd for chronic wasting disease, a fatal brain infection that has already been found in both Arkansas and Texas.
Even though no cases of chronic wasting disease have been found in Louisiana, the state is stepping up preventive efforts to monitor Louisiana's native white-tailed deer population for the incurable brain infection.
According to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the disease has already entered both Texas and Arkansas, and the state has developed a plan in the event it eventually is found here.
"We've been monitoring for CWD statewide for more than 10 years, and have checked 7,000-plus deer and have not discovered it," said Dr. Jim LaCour, the state wildlife veterinarian who updated the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission on the disease during its meeting today in Baton Rouge. "We are being proactive because it's in our neighboring states, and it's close enough that we need to be on guard.''
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3. FDA Moves to Withdraw Approval of Swine Drug
By Kelsey Gee and Joshua Jamerson
Wall Street Journal
April 8, 2016
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday moved to withdraw its approval of a drug used to treat pigs because of concerns that it could leave traces of a cancerous residue in pork.
The agency re-examined the safety of carbadox, an antibiotic, and concluded that there could be potential risk to human health from eating pork from hogs treated with the drug.
The FDA said pork liver, which is used to make liverwurst, hot dogs, lunchmeat and some types of sausage, may be especially risky.
The drug is made by Phibro Animal Health Corp. , sold under the brand name Mecadox, and isn't used in human medicine. It is commonly used in the swine industry to treat diarrhea caused by salmonella and other bacteria in young pigs, but can also be added to feed to promote faster weight gain.
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4. New assay offers improved detection of deadly prion diseases
MedicalXpress.com
April 8, 2016
Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), or prion diseases, are a family of rare progressive, neurodegenerative illnesses that affect both humans and animals. TSE surveillance is important for public health and food safety because TSEs have the potential of crossing from animals to humans, as seen with the spread of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). A study in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics describes an advanced assay that offers better sensitivity than currently available tests for detecting a prion disease affecting elk.
"The significance of TSEs on human health was not entirely realized until cases of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) in humans had been discovered in the years following the BSE outbreak in the United Kingdom. These vCJD cases were associated with consuming meat products contaminated with BSE prions," explained lead investigator Stefanie Czub, DVM, PhD, of the Canadian BSE Reference Lab, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Lethbridge Laboratory, Lethbridge, Alberta (Canada). "The result is that many countries have enacted TSE surveillance programs, aiming to eradicate livestock-related TSEs."
Surveillance programs rely on highly sensitive diagnostic methods to detect infections early. Addressing the need to define steadfast analytical performance criteria for prion amyloid seeding assays (ASAs), researchers developed a method to measure prion protein conversion time (from normal cellular form to prion form) by a combination of statistical analyses to obtain a prion-detecting ASA with a known degree of confidence. They compared the sensitivity of the new assay technique, the timed prion seeding assay (tASA), to other currently available tests (two bioassays in laboratory rodents and three commercially available TSE rapid tests).
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5. 23 more chronic wasting disease cases found in Ark.
By The Associated Press
Amarillo Globe-News
April 9, 2016
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said 23 more cases of chronic wasting disease have been confirmed in deer and elk in the state.
The commission said last week that there have been 79 positive tests for CWD since the first case was confirmed Feb. 23 in an elk in Newton County.
Three of the 79 cases have come from elk in Newton County, 74 deer from Newton County and two deer in Boone County.
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6. Fourth herpes positive found at Parx
By Jim Dunleavy
Daily Racing Form
April 8, 2016
A horse was confirmed to have the equine herpesvirus Thursday at Parx Racing, bringing the total number of positive cases at the track to four. Thursday's diagnosis restarts the 28-day quarantine clock, which now runs through May 5.
The Parx quarantine will stay in effect until 28 days pass without a horse getting ill from the virus.
All of the confirmed cases have come from Barn 30, where trainers Michael Aro and Ron Dandy are stabled.
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7. Avian flu: How it got here, and how we'll be better prepared next time
By Alex Chhith, Forum News Service
AgWeek.com
April 8, 2016
WORTHINGTON, Minn. - Three bird experts spoke Thursday night at the 12th annual Worthington BiO Conference to dozens of attendees eager to learn about the effects of the avian influenza outbreak last year.
The panelists included Jeff Barber, a local farmer whose turkeys died last spring as a result of the virus; Jill Nezworski, a poultry health veterinarian and owner of Blue House Veterinary & Laboratory in Buffalo Lake; and Carol Cardona, a professor in avian health at the University of Minnesota's College of Veterinary Medicine. Randy Simonson moderated the event.
"It's a shocking experience," Barber recalled of when his turkey flock contracted the virus in April 2015. "You walk in and it's dead silent. ... It's a sickening feeling."
University of Minnesota researchers confirmed that Barber's farm was infected the same day.
"It was one of the longest days, and probably one of the worst days, of my life," he continued.
Barber and his business partner took the first step to eradicate the virus from their barns and started the process of depopulating the entire farm.
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