Equine Infectious Anemia

Equine Viral Arteritis

National Animal Health Reporting System Provides Data for Confirmed Diseases

Feedlot Monitoring Data Show VS What is Happening in Animal Health

Low Pathogenic Avian Influenza

West Nile Virus

Chronic Wasting Disease

Modernization of Ames

National Animal Identification System

Bovine Tuberculosis

BSE Surveillance

Foreign Animal Disease Investigations

Trichinea Certification Program

Pseudorabies

Assessing Brucellosis in the Tristate Area: Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho

Bluetongue Survey

Confiscation of Belgian Sheep in Vermont

Scrapie Eradication Program

Johnes Program

National Veterinary Services Laboratories Domestic Detection and Surveillance Testing

Bluetongue Survey

The existence of bluetongue in the United States has been an impediment to moving cattle to Canada, which is classified by OIE as being free of bluetongue. Bluetongue is an OIE List A disease, which means that it has the potential for rapid spread and has major significance in the international trade arena. The discovery of animals infected with bluetongue virus (BTV) in a country or region poses serious socio-economic consequences to a nation.

In an effort to gain U.S. producers greater access to Canadian markets and enable cattle to move with minimal restrictions, VS has engaged in a number of activities to provide data to support science-based decision making.

In FY 2002, CEAH continued its bluetongue surveillance pilot project in collaboration with States and ARS. Approximately 120 cattle herds in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska have been involved in a 2-year study with up to 65 animals bled twice in each herd to look for antibodies to bluetongue virus. During the summer of 2002, traps were set on 27 farms in North and South Dakota to collect Culicoides, a biting midge that transmits the virus. The farms were selected based on prior vector trapping experiences in the three States.

Very few animals in North Dakota were positive for bluetongue virus antibodies. The distribution of Culicoides sonorensis was found to be limited to Nebraska and the southwest parts of South and North Dakota, similar to the distribution found in 2001.

VS also supported related bluetongue studies in a joint Montana-Alberta (Canada)-USDA project testing for the prevalence of BTV antibodies to evaluate the prevalence of BTV exposure in selected States.