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1. Less Lethal Form of Bird Flu Found at Missouri Farm
By Kelsey Gee
Wall St. Journal
May 3, 2016
Federal officials said 39,000 turkeys have been destroyed following the discovery of a low-grade form of avian flu at a farm in Missouri.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said a routine inspection last week found samples of the H5N1 virus in a healthy flock, and the birds were destroyed as a precaution.
The strain is far less infectious and deadly than the H5N2 virus that spread through parts of the Midwest last year, though Japan on Tuesday banned poultry shipments from parts of Jasper County, Missouri, where the latest outbreak originated.
Industry groups said the discovery was unlikely to affect domestic trade beyond that area because the virus is less dangerous than the highly-pathogenic strains that spread through the nation last year.
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2. Maryland EHV-1: No New Cases Reported
By Edited Press Release
TheHorse.com
May 3, 2016
There have been no new cases of equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) reported in Howard County, Maryland, since April 19, when two horses stabled at the same farm tested positive for the non-neuropathogenic strain of the virus.
The farm was placed on 30-day quarantine when the first case was confirmed on April 18. There has been no movement of horses on or off the farm since that date.
The farm's attending veterinarian and animal health inspectors from the Maryland Department of Agriculture have been closely monitoring all horses on the farm and have found no new cases of the virus. The quarantined farm has taken additional measures to prevent the spread of EHV-1 by enacting strict biosecurity protocols, helping to ensure that no visitors or vendors carry the disease onto other farms.
"We have received many calls from concerned stable owners and event organizers since the original case was confirmed last month," said Maryland State Veterinarian Michael Radebaugh, VMD. "We have no reason to believe that the disease has spread beyond this specific farm. Horses are latent carriers of the EHV-1 virus, and under certain conditions, horses will breakout with this disease. In Maryland, we experience a few isolated cases of EHV-1 every year."
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3. No new herpes cases at Parx
By Jim Dunleavy
Daily Racing Form
May 3, 2016
While the equine herpesvirus quarantine at Parx Racing is ongoing, there has not been a confirmed case of the disease at the Bensalem, Pa., track since April 25.
On Tuesday, all of the horses in Barn 4 - where Butch Reid and Keith Nations are stabled - were being tested for the herpesvirus.
"If they all come back negative, the quarantine on that barn will be lifted," said Sam Elliott, the director of racing at Parx.
Barns 4 and 30 have been under quarantine since April 1. The horses stabled in those barns have not been allowed to train or race. Horses stabled at Parx have not been allowed to leave the grounds during the quarantine.
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4. Final Indiana Avian Influenza Quarantine Lifted; State Achieves Free Status [State Vet Comments]
By Gary Truitt
Hoosier Ag Today
May 2, 2016
The last remaining quarantine associated with the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) cases identified in Dubois County, Ind. has officially been lifted by the Indiana State Board of Animal Health (BOAH). This quarantine release coincides with the state achieving avian influenza-free status, after logging 90 consecutive days with no new cases of the poultry disease.
On January 15, a commercial turkey farm in Dubois County was diagnosed with the H7N8 HPAI virus. Within 24 hours, another nine avian influenza-infected turkey farms were identified nearby through rapid surveillance testing. Those findings led to quarantines on all 10 farms, as well as the establishment of a 10-km (6.2-mile) radius Control Area that restricted movements of all poultry and poultry products onto and off of farms.
For 38 days, BOAH led the active response to eradicate the influenza virus from the area and assure safe and proper disposal of the birds. Indiana Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and other state and local agencies assisted to prevent the situation from growing to levels seen in 2015 in the Upper Midwest, when a different HPAI strain caused the loss of 48 million birds on 223 farms. Indiana's efforts focused on protecting the state's $2.4 billion poultry industry that employs 14,000 Hoosiers.
State Veterinarian Bret D. Marsh, DVM stated that HPAI launched an unprecedented animal health event for Indiana and, in some aspects, for the nation. "In hindsight, we feel we got ahead of this virus by testing neighboring farms the first day. The discovery of so many AI-positive sites-nine-in one day was unheard of, even at the height of the 2015 event. Our teams in the field had to scale-up, overnight. But we did it, and completed the task, in 38 days," he said.
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5. Funding discontinued for PEDv
By JoAnn Alumbaugh, Editor
PORK Network
May 2, 2016
In the fall of 2013 and through most of 2014, Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDv) devastated swine herds throughout the nation and killed an estimated 10 million piglets. The disease became "reportable" in June 2014, which freed up government funds to help with biosecurity costs and diagnostics associated with the virus.
The USDA decided in January that it will no longer help with biosecurity payments and now in April, diagnostic testing will also be cut, reports WHO-TV in Des Moines, Iowa.
That means producers will need to foot the bill. Dr. Dave Pyburn, vice president of science and technology with the National Pork Board provides details in the article, and explains why it's still important for producers to test their herds.
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6. Study: EPM-Causing Parasites Ubiquitous in U.S. Horses
By Michelle N. Anderson, TheHorse.com Digital Managing Editor
TheHorse.com
May 3, 2016
Living in areas where horses don't commonly get diagnosed with equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM) doesn't mean your horse isn't at risk for contracting this significant neurologic disease.
In fact, the two EPM-causing parasites are more common in horses throughout all regions of the continental United States than previously thought, according to a survey performed by researchers at the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine. The team included members of the school's departments of Medicine and Epidemiology and Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunity.
Study co-author Kaitlyn E. James, MPH, presented results of the paper "Seroprevalence of Sarcocystis neurona and Neospora hughesi Among Healthy Horses in the United States" at the 2015 American Association of Equine Practitioners' Convention, held Dec. 5-9 in Las Vegas.
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7. Egg prices recovering from increase created by bird flu
By Radio Iowa Contributor
RadioIowa.com
May 3, 2016
You may soon be paying less for eggs at the grocery store as egg production operations across the state and elsewhere are recovering from last year's outbreak of bird flu.
That outbreak sent egg prices skyward, but the number of laying hens nationally is now approaching pre-flu levels. As a result, U.S.D.A. economist Annemarie Kuhns says retail egg prices are dropping.
Kuhns says, "Really, what we've been seeing is just, we're expecting a recovery more quickly than we initially anticipated, a recovery from the highly-pathogenic avian influenza last year." She says the U.S.D.A. expects retail egg prices to fall nine-to-ten-percent this year compared to the average 2015 price.
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