NAHSS Activity Updates, February 2008
Dr. Tracey Lynn has been named director of the Center for Emerging Issues (CEI) at the Centers for Epidemiology and Animal Health (CEAH) in Fort Collins, CO. Dr. Lynn was previously acting team leader for the Risk Analysis Team within CEI. She has also worked as acting team leader for CEI’s Emerging Diseases Tracking, Analysis, and Forecasting Team and as a member of the National Surveillance Unit (NSU.) Dr. Lynn came to USDA in July 2004 from the Alaska Division of Public Health, where she was the Program Manager for the Environmental Public Health Program.
A number of papers on surveillance-related topics have been published or accepted for publication recently. Among those submitted to the NAHSS Outlook are:
- “Analyzing BSE surveillance in low prevalence countries,” a paper co-authored by NSU Director Dr. Aaron Scott along with Drs. Mark Powell (USDA Office of Risk Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis) and Eric Ebel (Food Safety and Inspection Service); published in Preventive Veterinary Medicine Oct. 31, 2007.
- “Evaluation of pathways for release of Rift Valley fever virus into domestic ruminant livestock, ruminant wildlife, and human populations in the continental United States” published by the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association Feb. 15, 2008. Authors were Drs. Tom Kasari (NSU), Tracy Lynn and Todd Weaver (CEI), and Deborah Carr (Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences).
- “Estimating herd prevalence of bovine brucellosis in 46 USA states using slaughter surveillance,” by Drs. Eric Ebel, (FSIS), Mike Williams (FSIS) and Sarah Tomlinson (NSU), accepted by Preventive Veterinary Medicine in February 2008.
(Editor’s note: The NAHSS Outlook is considering including a list of such papers as a regular feature as space allows. If you have information on a surveillance-related paper authored by VS staff members, please e-mail national.surveillance.unit@aphis.usda.gov.)
CEI publishes a quarterly publication entitled "Summary of Selected Disease Events." This summary is a brief report that reviews selected international and domestic occurrences of OIE listed diseases, as well as other important animal disease events. The latest summary, which covers the period from October through December 2007, as well as previous summaries of Selected Disease Events, can be found on the CEI Web site at: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/ceah/cei/taf/allsummary.htm