National Animal Health Surveillance System Outlook
Issue 21, April 2009
The NAHSS Outlook is an electronic communication with information about the National Animal Health Surveillance System (NAHSS) that is distributed via email to all members of Veterinary Services. Contact the National Surveillance Unit to provide comments and suggestions for future topics.
Articles in This Issue:
- Comprehensive feral swine disease surveillance and monitoring
- Center for Emerging Issues becomes the Center for Animal Health Information and Analysis
- VS updates Surveillance and Data Standards
- NAHRS marks 10-year anniversary
- CDC Hosts Animal-Human Interface Meeting
- Contagious Equine Metritis Outbreak
- CSF Annual Report Provides Surveillance Data
Comprehensive feral swine disease surveillance and monitoring.
Damage caused by feral swine has been well documented by wildlife management professionals, but managing disease risks associated with feral swine is a relatively new concern for the wildlife community. Commercial swine producers, regulatory veterinarians, and trade associations are increasingly concerned with disease risks to domestic swine associated with feral swine. This has led to implementation of management and control programs to reduce the possibilities of disease introduction and spread. Surveillance for disease status in feral swine populations is key to understanding the risk of infection of domestic swine herds. APHIS-Wildlife Services and Veterinary Services have worked together for many years to refine surveillance and monitoring efforts in swine populations targeted for control by WS. As the National Animal Health Surveillance System has matured over the years, the National Surveillance Unit has worked with other VS partners and WS staff to incorporate targeted sampling of feral swine tissue and serum collections into risk-based surveillance strategies for multiple swine diseases of interest. Read more about feral swine disease surveillance here.
Center for Emerging Issues becomes the Center for Animal Health Information and Analysis
The Center for Emerging Issues, one of three centers within Veterinary Services-Centers for Epidemiology and Animal Health, was formed in the early 1990s to address emerging animal health issues, such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Early projects included qualitative and quantitative risk analysis studies about BSE, an evaluation of issues and ramifications of E. coli 0157:H7, and a look at emerging factors and forces affecting the bovine tuberculosis program. Over the next decade, the center grew to include a business intelligence function, as well as a group dedicated to spatial epidemiology methods and applications. Recently, CEI finalized a year-long assessment of its mission and function, culminating in a decision to change its name to the Center for Animal Health Information and Analysis (CAHIA). The new name captures the group’s mission, which has expanded from early identification and initial analysis of emerging issues to encompass a more holistic and comprehensive identification and analysis function. Read more about CAHIA here.
VS updates Surveillance and Data Standards
Veterinary Services has updated two sections of the Surveillance and Data Standards for USDA-APHIS-VS. The updates to the surveillance and data standards manual provide standardized lists of values for terms that are used to describe animal taxonomy (including commodity groups, species, and breed) and animal descriptions in VS information management systems. These types of standardized terms and lists of values allow for the exchange of information among VS IT systems and between VS and other Federal or State IT systems. Automated data processing based on a computable, common understanding of the information minimizes human data processing tasks, such as manually classifying and aggregating bovine study subjects based on species and breeds. Read more about the updates to VS Surveillance and Data Standards here.
NAHRS marks 10-year anniversary
The National Animal Health Reporting System (NAHRS) is marking its 10-year anniversary this year. NAHRS is a joint effort of the United States Animal Health Association (USAHA), American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (AAVLD), and USDA-APHIS, and is coordinated by the National Surveillance Unit. The system was designed to gather data from State animal health officials on the presence of confirmed OIE-reportable diseases in specific livestock, poultry, and aquaculture species in the United States. NAHRS is a voluntary, cooperative system for reporting animal diseases. States that do not participate in NAHRS are still required to report to the FAD surveillance and APHIS-VS national program disease surveillance data systems. The program began in 1999 following a pilot project with data collected from seven States in 1998. In the first official reporting year, 29 States participated. An effort to recruit all States to participate in the NAHRS was initiated, and by 2008, participation had grown significantly, with 48 States reporting disease information. Read more about NAHRS here.