NAHSS Activity Updates, December 2008
States, VS working jointly on Greater Yellowstone Area (GYA) brucellosis plan
Veterinary Services is partnering with State agriculture officials in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming to develop a management plan for livestock herds in and surrounding the Greater Yellowstone Area to further the goal of eliminating brucellosis. The focus of the effort is to identify a high-risk zone in each of the three States and assess the risk of herds to acquire and spread brucellosis. The National Brucellosis Elimination Zone (NBEZ) project will also include a risk-based surveillance plan and development of appropriate regulations (Federal and State) to implement the zone. A concept paper was presented at the recent United States Animal Health Association meeting. The concept has moved forward with the initiation of risk assessment, surveillance planning, and identification of available tools already being used in the States.
Surveillance among topics at USAHA meeting
Surveillance-related issues were among the topics at the recent annual meeting of the United States Animal Health Association (USAHA) in Charlotte, NC. The USAHA met jointly with the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians. USAHA delegates passed a resolution requesting that VS, working with universities and other agencies, establish a bluetongue and epizootic hemorrhagic disease surveillance program throughout the United States and the Caribbean region. The surveillance program would:
- Establish the current regional distribution and activity of the established and newly recognized viruses in the United States;
- Detect the presence of introduced viruses in the US and the Caribbean Region; and
- Identify all species of insect vectors associated with the transmission of bluetongue and epizootic hemorrhagic viruses.
Delegates also passed a resolution regarding development of a National List of Reportable Animal Diseases (see separate article in this issue.)
Presentation topics related to surveillance and monitoring included: swine surveillance (PRV, SB and SIV), national surveillance update, NAHRS update, NAHMS goat and poultry study planning, national reportable disease list, and VS 2015. (See related article on VS 2015 in this issue.)The 2007 U.S. Animal Health Report is now available on the APHIS Web site.
This report provides a national overview of domestic animal health in the United States.
The 2007 report includes a chapter devoted to a number of strategic areas specific to the veterinary services mission, including emergency planning and preparedness; avian influenza surveillance; aquatic health; national animal identification; and comprehensive, integrated animal-health surveillance. New to the report this year is a chapter on animal health diagnostics and veterinary biologics. This chapter describes, in detail, these fundamental components of the veterinary services infrastructure and how they enhance animal health in the United States.
See the report online at
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/publications/animal_health/content/printable_version/ahr2007.pdf