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Video Series Animates Answers To Challenging Foreign Animal Disease Questions
Whether raising backyard chickens or managing a large dairy farm, knowing how to prevent and respond to disease infections and their spread is critical for maintaining healthy herds and flocks.
A new video series by University of Vermont Research Professor and Project Director Julie Smith covers important topics for farm producers and industry allies about foreign animal disease preparedness and response.
Foreign Animal Disease Readiness for FarmsThe series is entitled "Foreign Animal Disease Readiness for Farms," and consists of 11 animated, short-format videos that provide answers to challenging questions about preventing and responding to foreign animal disease outbreaks. The primary audience is people who manage and care for food animals. The videos will benefit livestock industry professionals, veterinarians, educators, animal science students, and anyone else interested in protecting the health of U.S. Livestock and poultry.
Although foreign animal diseases (FAD) are not normally present in the United States or have been previously eradicated, they are a category of diseases recognized globally that may spread quickly, cause many animal deaths, have high economic or public health risks, and are of major importance in the international trade of animals and animal products.
Farm Producer InspirationSmith based the video storylines on questions she identified when engaging with producers and community members over the years about disease preparedness (in particular, foot-and-mouth disease). She wanted to convey the information in an accessible, audience-centered, and accurate way.
"The videos cover topics that are important for anyone involved in animal agriculture to understand. Colorful graphics and animations highlight key concepts and actions relevant to foreign animal disease response and preparedness," stated Smith.
Smith's research and outreach projects over her career have focused on agricultural biosecurity and animal disease prevention. Many of her projects translate scientific findings into actionable steps that support the agriculture industry in protecting animal health. The video series combines science-based knowledge about disease spread with practical answers on how to identify, prevent, and manage outbreaks.
Overview of Video Topics"The animated videos help to make a complex subject easier to understand. For educators, the videos are easy to include in lesson plans and an innovative way to introduce concepts about disease control in animal agriculture," Smith said.
Find out more about the videos and get ideas for sharing them with different audiences on the Healthy Farms Healthy Agriculture website, and as a playlist on the Healthy Farms Healthy Agriculture YouTube channel.
Why Care About Foreign Animal Diseases?A frequently asked question about foreign animal diseases (FAD) is why we need to care about them, if they are not found in the United States. FAD outbreaks in other countries are ongoing, so the threat of a disease introduction to the U.S. Never goes away. Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), African swine fever (ASF), and highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in birds are just a few diseases in this category. Learn more about why we need to care about FADs in the video entitled Why Plan for Foreign Animal Diseases?
The World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) sets international trade standards for animal health and disease control. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service actively participates in creating and enforcing these standards, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection ensures that infected animals and products do not enter the country. Watch the video entitled Who is Preventing Disease and Pest Introductions? To learn how the United States protects domestic agriculture from FAD introductions.
Funding Source and AcknowledgementThe "Foreign Animal Disease Readiness for Farms" video series was funded by USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service through the National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program (NADPRP). It may not necessarily express APHIS' views.
We are grateful to the many reviewers who took the time to provide insightful feedback as we developed the video storylines.
Develop Biosecurity Plans To Match Needs Of Cattle Operation
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — A biosecurity plan will be different for every cattle operation.
"There is not a one-size-fits-all biosecurity plan because you are going to have different levels of risks, different inputs and different critical control points," said Sara Chaplin, veterinarian at Iowa State University.
"We're looking at protecting the health and welfare of our cattle and recognizing that it's more profitable to prevent problems than correct them," said Chaplin during a presentation at the Illinois Beef Association Annual Meeting & Awards Ceremony.
"Our challenge is to find the balance between what is necessary and what is practical for everyday activities for both the common diseases as well as setting the groundwork so we're ready to defend ourselves from foreign animal diseases should they cross our borders."
Biosecurity is keeping both domestic and foreign diseases out of a cattle operation and biocontainment is controlling the spread of diseases that are already on a farm.
Bovine viral diarrhea is one example how cattlemen use biosecurity.
"That's a disease we have good preventatives for and we also have really good testing for it," Chaplin said. "So, we can take measures to keep BVD off of our operations."
Pink eye is a good example of biocontainment.
"Pink eye is really hard to completely eliminate, but if you have an outbreak, you can separate those animals from others that are at risk to limit the extent of the outbreak," Chaplin said.
Veterinarians can assist cattlemen to implement practices to reduce the introduction and spread of disease agents in their herds.
"We want to help you protect your animals from developing diseases, to help improve animal welfare and reduce production losses," Chaplin said.
"A biosecurity protocol is the cheapest and most effective means of disease control," she said. "No disease prevention program is going to work without involving biosecurity on some level."
Ultimately, the goal is to have a good biosecurity plan in place to mitigate common risks and to use that as a starting point if a foreign animal disease situation develops in the United States.
"And without proper training, people can be the greatest risks for bringing new diseases onto operations," the veterinarian said.
Chaplin identified four key principles for a biosecurity plan — exclusion, separation, cleaning and disinfection.
Exclusion is difficult to implement in the cattle industry.
"Our colleagues in the swine and poultry industries are very familiar with exclusion since they have more of all-in, all-out types of operations," Chaplin said. "They have multiple levels of biosecurity and critical control points before entering an operation."
Keeping diseases away from a cattle herd or eradicating the disease are modes of exclusion, the veterinarian said.
Separation involves reducing comingling as much as possible by separating young calves from other calves, as well as increasing the distance between pens.
"Cleaning is a very impactful intervention step, but in order for disinfectants to work, you have to remove as much organic matter as possible," Chaplin said.
"If you put disinfectant soap onto mud, all you have is soapy mud," she said. "It's not disinfected and it's not clean — it's just bubbly mud."
Therefore, it is important to rinse all contaminated objects such as tires, bottles and equipment thoroughly to get the organic matter off before the disinfectant step.
"Read the label to apply the disinfectant at the proper concentration and use the appropriate contact time," Chaplin said. "The contact time is one of the most effective aspects of a disinfectant."
The risk of diseases will vary from herd to herd.
"Start by identifying the diseases you are most concerned about," Chaplin said. "Then focus on putting biosecurity measures in place to protect your herd from those diseases."
Diseases are spread through six primary ways. Aerosol spread is a major route of transmission.
"Disease agents are contained in droplets and they can pass through the air, but it requires they are fairly close in proximity to one another," Chaplin said. "Most of the time, they don't survive for a long time outside of the animal."
Preventive measures include increasing the distance between sick and susceptible animals, maximizing ventilation, minimizing humidity and housing animals at appropriate stocking densities.
Transmission by direct contact requires the organism to be in the environment or in an infected animal.
"Animals can become exposed through contact with mucus, saliva or feces," Chaplin said. "Prevention involves increasing the space between at risk animals and diseased animals and separating sick animals from healthy animals."
Fomites are inanimate objects such as boots, brushes or trailers that can carry contaminates and diseases.
"Good preventative measures are cleaning and disinfecting and single-use items such as needles or palpation sleeves," Chaplin said. "Have a change of clothes and have chore boots for the farm and off-farm designated boots."
Oral transmission occurs with contaminated feed or water, as well as fecal transmission.
"Try not to walk through your feed bunks with dirty boots and don't put needle caps in your mouth," Chaplin said. "Have a procedure in place to clean the bucket between using it to clean the pens and to deliver feed."
Flies, ticks and worms can carry diseases if they get to the cattle.
"We can put protocols in place to control flies to try to minimize the risk of the spread of disease," Chaplin said.
Zoonotic transmission is the spread of disease from humans to animals or from animals to humans.
"To prevent this, wash your hands and be careful around stillborn or aborted fetuses," Chaplin said. "Consider respiratory and eye protection and remember your mouth is not a third hand."
Biosecurity is ultimately disease prevention, the veterinarian said.
"We can mitigate risk, but there is no such thing as zero risk," she said. "Biosecurity comes down to what you can control on your operation with the resources you have."
Most cattlemen have not dealt with a highly contagious disease in their herds.
"You don't want to," Chaplin said.
"It is going to take an enhanced level of biosecurity to keep a highly contagious disease out of your herd," she said. "It's really hard to envision going from just getting started to enhanced biosecurity."
It can look like a tough journey, the veterinarian said.
"But with proper preparation and the right players," she said, "we can accomplish that big journey with small steps, so focus on the practical and consistent steps."
Viruses Related To Deadly Human Diseases Found In Chinese Bats
BEIJING - Scientists have discovered 20 previously unknown viruses in bats from China's Yunnan province, including two closely related to the deadly Nipah and Hendra viruses, raising fresh concerns about the risk of animal pathogens infecting people.
The viruses related to Nipah and Hendra came from fruit bats caught near orchards close to villages, places where people and farm animals are more likely to come into contact with wildlife.
The findings, published on June 24 in the journal PLOS Pathogens, underscore how much remains unknown about the microbes carried by bats – animals that serve as natural hosts for some of the world's most dangerous pathogens.
Scientists have long warned that climate change, farming expansion and urbanisation are bringing animals and people into closer contact, increasing the likelihood of new viruses emerging and sparking outbreaks, as seen with severe acute respiratory syndrome, or Sars, Ebola, and Covid-19.
"This study highlights that we know very little about the viruses that infect bats and those that exist in our world more generally," said Dr Tim Mahony, director of the Centre for Animal Science at Australia's University of Queensland, who was not part of the study.
The research involved scientists from China and the University of Sydney, who examined the kidneys of 142 bats collected over four years in Yunnan.
They identified 22 viruses in total, 20 of which had not been previously recorded. Among them were two henipaviruses closely related to Nipah and Hendra, which can cause fatal brain inflammation and respiratory illness in people, with mortality rates as high as 75 per cent.
The team also reported two new bacterial species and one previously unknown parasite.
While most studies on bat viruses focus on faeces, the researchers looked at kidney tissue, which plays a role in virus shedding through urine – a lesser-studied but potentially important route of transmission.
The two new henipaviruses were found in fruit bats living near agricultural areas, where urine from bats may contaminate fruit that is eaten by people or livestock.
The findings "underscore critical zoonotic threats", the study authors wrote, adding that the potential for such viruses to infect humans or farm animals needs urgent attention.
Despite the potential implications, one of the study's corresponding authors declined to speak in detail, telling Bloomberg by e-mail that "the topic is quite sensitive" due to how politically charged it has become.
Experts say the discovery is scientifically significant, though it is still too early to know how dangerous the new viruses might be.
Professor Wang Linfa from the Programme in Emerging Infectious Diseases at Singapore's Duke-NUS Medical School said: "This discovery basically further confirms the diversity of bat viruses in general and henipaviruses, in particular. My overall assessment is that we need to watch closely, but not be overly concerned, at the present time." BLOOMBERG
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