HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012

Wishing that the best of times come your way with new hopes and promises this New Year...

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL... 

The Official Veterinarian - An essential public good

In view of the 3rd round table on the modernization of meat inspection, the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe (FVE) would like to underline the crucial role played by veterinarians in protecting human health and ensuring food safety.
The consumer demands safe food of animal origin. The veterinary profession has the independence, integrity, knowledge and skills to provide the consumer with reassurance that their expectation of high food safety, animal welfare and environmental standards has been met – all the way from farm to fork.
FVE wants to outline this pivotal role played by veterinarians in assuring the safety of our food especially at slaughterhouse level.

Source:
http://www.fve.org/news/press_releases/docs/2011_12_005%20the%20role%20of%20ov_%20adding%20value%20v1.5_press%20release.pdf

Lions' and tigers' fearsome roars are due to their unusual vocal folds

When lions and tigers roar loudly and deeply -- terrifying every creature within earshot -- they are somewhat like human babies crying for attention, although their voices are much deeper. So says the senior author of a new study that shows lions' and tigers' loud, low-frequency roars are predetermined by physical properties of their vocal fold tissue -- namely, the ability to stretch and shear -- and not by nerve impulses from the brain. "Roaring is similar to what a baby sounds like when it cries," says speech scientist Ingo Titze, executive director of the National Center for Voice and Speech, which is administered by the University of Utah. "In some ways, the lion is a large replica of a crying baby, loud and noisy, but at very low pitch."
The study of lion and tiger vocal folds and how they produce roaring -- vocalizations used by big cats to claim their territory -- was set for publication on Nov. 2, in the Public Library of Science's online journal PLoS ONE. While the comparison was not part of the study, Titze says a baby "cries to have people come to help it. The lion uses similar attention-getting sound, but mainly to say, 'I am here, this is my territory, get out of here." "In both cases, we hear loud, grating sounds that grab people's ears. When a baby cries, the sound isn't pretty. The sound is basically rough. The vibration isn't regular."

Goats could increase the risk of a rare lung cancer

Exposure to goats could increase the risk of a certain type of lung cancer, according to French researchers. The study, presented at the European Respiratory Society's Annual Congress in Amsterdam, has linked a professional exposure to goats with a distinct subset of lung cancer, known as pneumonic-type lung adenocarcinoma (P-ADC). This form of lung cancer has a weak association with tobacco smoking when compared with other types of the disease. In attempting to identify other triggers that may cause the disease, scientists have previously noticed similarities between P-ADC and a viral infection which causes growths in the lungs of sheep. Given these similarities, the researchers have investigated whether a viral agent found in sheep and goats could be easily transferred to people who work with the animals, leading to a partiality for P-ADC. The current epidemiologic study involved 44 patients with P-ADC and 132 controls without the disease. All participants were given a questionnaire assessing a number of risk factors including their smoking status, their personal history of cancer and their exposure to goats.

The results showed that people who had experienced a professional exposure to goats during their lifetime were five times more likely to get P-ADC compared with other types of lung cancer. The findings also showed that P-ADC was significantly associated with females, and people who had never smoked or had any personal history of cancer. Dr Nicolas Girard, from the Louis Pradel Hospital, Hospices Civils de Lyon, said: "Scientists have noticed similarities between P-ADC and a contagious viral infection in sheep before. This led us to explore the possibility that professional exposure to cattle could make humans more susceptible to P-ADC. These findings demonstrate that exposure to goats could be a risk factor for this type of lung cancer, however further studies are needed to assess other potential risk factors for the disease."

Science Daily
November 1, 2011

Hold the phone for vital signs: researchers turn a smart phone into a medical monitor

An iPhone app that measures the user's heart rate is not only a popular feature with consumers, but it sparked an idea for a Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) researcher who is now turning smart phones, and eventually tablet devices, into sophisticated medical monitors able to capture and transmit vital physiological data. A team led by Ki Chon, professor and head of biomedical engineering at WPI, has developed a smart phone application that can measure not only heart rate, but also heart rhythm, respiration rate and blood oxygen saturation using the phone's built-in video camera. The new app yields vital signs as accurate as standard medical monitors now in clinical use. Details of the new technology are published online, in advance of print, by the journal IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering. "This gives a patient the ability to carry an accurate physiological monitor anywhere, without additional hardware beyond what's already included in many consumer mobile phones," the authors write. "One of the advantages of mobile phone monitoring is that it allows patients to make baseline measurements at any time, building a database that could allow for improved detection of disease states."

The application, developed by Chon and WPI colleagues Yitzhak Mendelson, associate professor of biomedical engineering, Domhnull Granquist-Fraser, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, and doctoral student Christopher Scully, analyzes video clips recorded while the patient's fingertip is pressed against the lens of the phone's camera. As the camera's light penetrates the skin, it reflects off of pulsing blood in the finger; the application is able to correlate subtle shifts in the color of the reflected light with changes in the patient's vital signs. Chon, who is an expert on signal processing, has previously developed algorithms that monitor a range of vital signs using traditional clinical devices like a Holter heart monitor. In the new study, Chon and his team created and adapted algorithms to process the data gathered by the phone's video camera. To test for accuracy, volunteers at WPI donned the standard monitoring devices now in clinical use for measuring respiration, pulse rate, heart rhythm, and blood oxygen content. Simultaneously, the volunteers pressed a finger onto the camera of a Motorola Droid phone. While all devices were recording, the volunteers went through a series of breathing exercises while their vital signs were captured. Subsequent analysis of the data showed that Chon's new smart phone monitor was as accurate as the traditional devices. While this study was done on a Droid, Chon said the technology is easily adaptable to most smart phones with an embedded video camera.

Furthermore, since the new technology can measure heart rhythm, Chon believes the smart-phone app could be used to detect atrial fibrillation (AF), which is the most common form of cardiac arrhythmia. "We are building that application now, and we have started a preliminary clinical study with colleagues at UMass Medical School to use the smart phone to detect AF," Chon said.

Science Daily

Cattle parasite vaccine offers hope to world's poorest farmers

A new approach to vaccinating cattle could help farmers worldwide, research suggests

A new approach to vaccinating cattle could help farmers worldwide, research suggests.
Scientists have developed a technique using a harmless parasite – which lives in cows but has no effect on their health – to carry medicines into the animals' bloodstream.
Researchers created the vaccine by inserting key genetic material from a vaccine into the parasite's DNA. The manipulated parasite is intended to be injected into cattle, where it would continue to thrive in their bloodstreams, releasing small amounts of vaccine slowly over time.
The treatment could offer long-term protection against common conditions such as foot-and-mouth disease or bovine tuberculosis, as well as a range of other diseases.
Scientists say the method could also be adapted to carry medicines as well as vaccines, to deliver drug treatments against common cattle diseases.
It is hoped the approach will help to control or eradicate major cattle diseases. Also, by controlling certain tropical infections, it could transform the economic outlook of poor farmers in Africa, where such conditions are rife.
The research, carried out in collaboration with the Moredun Research Institute with funding from the Wellcome Trust and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, was published in the journal PLoS Pathogens.
Professor Keith Matthews of the University of Edinburgh's School of Biological Sciences, who led the research, said: "This method has real potential to control a wide range of cattle diseases throughout the world. It is also a fantastic example of how building on many years of basic scientific research can lead to unanticipated economic potential."

Contact: Catriona Kelly
Catriona.Kelly@ed.ac.uk
44-131-651-4401
University of Edinburgh

5,000 die of rabies every year in Pakistan: experts

* Cats, horses, dogs major cause of spread or transmit of rabies
LAHORE: The incidents of rabies’ are increasing in Pakistan where 5,000 deaths are recorded annually while rabies cases reported from India are much higher and one person is becoming prey to the zoonotic viral disease after every 20 minutes.

This was stated by speakers at a national seminar titled “The awareness and current status of rabies” organised by University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) in collaboration with World Health Organisation (WHO) on Thursday.

Punjab Livestock and Dairy Development Department Secretary Hamid Yaqoob Sheikh stressed that the health and livestock departments in collaboration with universities should make collaborative efforts to fight against rabies. He said that these institutions should also play their role in creating awareness and preventing the disease in the first place.

Referring to nation’s efforts during natural calamities, Sheikh asked why such collaborative efforts were not made during normal circumstances. He also urged the experts to identify the causes and reasons of the spread of rabies, its prevention and cure. He lauded the university’s efforts in holding the national seminar to create awareness among general public.

UVAS Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Nawaz said rabies was a fatal disease and an alarming threat for human life as well as animals. He called for chalking out strategies to create awareness among students, livestock workers and general public to control the disease. He said that World Rabies Day would be observed on September 28. Dr Nawaz said that rabies was described in Chinese history around 556 BC.

Epidemiology and Public Health Department Chairman Prof Dr Ather Khan said that around 55,000 deaths were being reported from across the globe due to zoonotic viral disease and added that 56 percent of these deaths were occurring in Asia and 44 percent in Africa, particularly in rural areas. He said that the domestic animals – dogs, cats and horses were the most important vectors for the spread and transmission of rabies. He called for immunisation of domestic animals and stressed that in case of a bite from rabid animals, the post exposure immunisation must be carried out.

Later, at the technical session, the experts recommended that veterinarians and MBBS doctors must be provided with SOPs to attend rabies cases. It was suggested that surveillance was essential for detection of high-risk areas, outbreaks and monitoring of the use of vaccine. Measures should be adopted to control the stray dog population through spaying.

Dean faculty of Veterinary Science Prof Dr Nasim Ahmad, WHO representative Dr Muhammad Mazhar Qureshi, Assistant Prof Muhammad Hassan Mushtaq, Dr Sara Afzal and Livestock Department Director General Irfan Zahid also spoke on the occasion. Dean Faculty of Veterinary Science Prof Dr Nasim Ahmad presented souvenir to Hamid Sheikh.

Washing with contaminated soap increases bacteria on hands

People who wash their hands with contaminated soap from bulk-soap-refillable dispensers can increase the number of disease-causing microbes on their hands and may play a role in transmission of bacteria in public settings according to research published in the May issue of the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology. "Hand washing with soap and water is a universally accepted practice for reducing the transmission of potentially pathogenic microorganisms. However, liquid soap can become contaminated with bacteria and poses a recognized health risk in health care settings," says Carrie Zapka from GOJO Industries in Akron Ohio, the lead researcher on the study that also included scientists from BioScience Laboratories in Bozeman, Montana and the University of Arizona, Tucson.

Bulk-soap-refillable dispensers, in which new soap is poured into a dispenser, are the predominant soap dispenser type in community settings, such as public restrooms. In contrast to sealed-soap dispensers, which are refilled by inserting a new bag or cartridge of soap, they are prone to bacterial contamination and several outbreaks linked to the use of contaminated soap have already been reported in healthcare settings. In this study Zapka and her colleagues investigated the health risk associated with the use of bulk-soap-refillable dispensers in a community setting. They found an elementary school where all 14 of the soap dispensers were already contaminated and asked students and staff to wash their hands, measuring bacteria levels before and after handwashing. They found that Gram-negative bacteria on the hands of students and staff increased 26-fold after washing with the contaminated soap. "This is the first study to quantitatively demonstrate that washing hands with contaminated liquid soap actually increases the number of Gram-negative bacteria on hands. Furthermore, the results directly demonstrate that bacteria from contaminated hands can be transferred to secondary surfaces," says Zapka. Zapka notes that all the participants' hands were decontaminated after testing by washing with uncontaminated soap followed by hand sanitizer. At the conclusion of the study, all the contaminated soap dispensers were replaced with dispensers using sealed-soap refills. After one year of use, not one of them was found to be contaminated.

Science Daily
May 17, 2011

30th April 2011

WORLD VETERINARY DAY

VET for HEALTH,

VET for FOOD,

VET for PLANET.

Does bird flu + swine flu = superflu?

What do you get if you cross bird flu with the 2009 pandemic human virus, widely known as swine flu? Unfortunately, the answer isn't funny. A new study predicts that swapping genes between the avian and human influenza viruses may result in an even more dangerous flu. The human influenza virus H1N1 that caused the 2009 flu pandemic, and H9N2, an avian influenza virus that is endemic in bird populations in Asia, are close cousins—close enough that they can swap genes if they find themselves in the same cell, resulting in new viruses that are a patchwork of the parent strains. Scientists suspect that some gene combinations may result in a particularly potent form of flu and ignite a pandemic in humans. But because these viruses are more likely to meet in the lungs of an Asian chicken farmer than under the nose of a virologist, researchers find it difficult to predict which gene combinations might be the most virulent and contagious.

So instead of waiting and seeing, researchers have played matchmaker and thrust the two viruses together in a test tube. A team in China generated 127 hybrid viruses and injected each one into lab mice. More than half of the hybrids were as good as their parent strains at infecting the mice, and eight of them proved to be more pathogenic, the team led by Jinhua Liu of the China Agricultural University in Beijing reports online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "These are important experiments", says virologist Peter Palese of Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, who was not involved in the work. The viral hybrids that the Chinese team has identified are the ones that scientists might want to watch out for worldwide, he says. If these strains were recognized early, governments could launch a speedier response. Creating highly virulent viruses in the lab is controversial, says virologist Ab Osterhaus of the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. "I don't think we should shy away from these experiments. The more information we have, the better," he says. He explains, however, that the hybrids that are the most virulent in mice will not necessarily be the most dangerous in humans, nor the most contagious. "Mice mirror, to a certain extent, what happens in humans," he says, but they are not perfect model animals. Liu agrees. He plans to investigate how contagious his new viral blends are in guinea pigs and ferrets—animals whose respiratory system better reflects our own feverish battle with flu.

ScienceNow
March 22, 2011

Veterinary immunology/vaccination training now online available

15 Mar 2011

The Institute for International Cooperation in Animal Biologics (IICAB) at Iowa State University has made its Basic Veterinary Immunology and Principles of Vaccination course available online.

“We have delivered  ‘Basic Veterinary Immunology and Principles of Vaccination’ for 15 years as a three-day lecture at the annual Institute  for International Cooperation in Animal Biologics, Veterinary Biologics Training Program,” says James Roth, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVM, who delivers both the online and onsite lecture series. “The material serves as both a basic introduction and refresher to immunity and vaccinology principles.
“The course has proved beneficial to veterinarians and staff; companies involved in vaccine development and distribution; national and international government agencies; and others in the animal health industry,” Roth says.
The course is priced at $650 for 120-day access to 34 online video lectures in segments totaling 17 hours. Course notes and Power Points of lecture slides are delivered to participants in print.  A sample lecture and accompanying course notes are available here.  Individuals and groups can register for the course at this address, with group rates available for 10 or more participants.
For more information you can email immunehelp@iastate.edu
Related website:IICAB
[Source: cattlenetwork.com]
 

AIM OF WORLD VETERINARY YEAR

In 2011, all veterinary institutions will have an opportunity to organize events in their own countries to promote the veterinary profession through the Vet2011 Global Initiative.

The main aim is to improve public awareness and remind policymakers everywhere in the world that:
-- The veterinary profession has been serving humankind for 250 years;
-- Modern veterinarians are not only animal doctors and animal welfare advocates, they are also key public health stakeholders because of their crucial role in:
-- promoting food security by supervising animal production hygiene,
-- controlling zoonoses,
-- monitoring food quality and safety,
-- biomedical research,
-- protecting the environment and biodiversity.

PREDICT- a new approach

---

PREDICT: Building a global early warning system for emerging diseases that move between wildlife and people and more...

In order to predict, respond to, and prevent the emergence of novel infectious diseases in humans, pathogens must be identified at their source.
Explosive human population growth and environmental changes have resulted in increased numbers of people living in close contact with animals. Unfortunately the resulting increase in contact, together with changes in land use, has altered the inherent ecological balance between pathogens and their human and animal hosts.

FRANCE: Animal rights groups slam Halal meat cruelty

Consumers may unwittingly be eating Halal meat from animals which suffered excessive pain whilst being slaughtered, according to several animal rights groups who have organized a nationwide publicity poster campaign to denounce the practice.
“This animal is about to have its throat cut whilst conscious and it will suffer horribly. That is what ritual meat-killing is.” Those words can be read on posters in 50 French cities and they are why several French politicians have proposed that laws concerning Halal meal slaughtering and the meat’s labeling be changed.
Traditional French methods used in abattoirs are controlled by a government decree introduced in 1964 which stipulates that the animal must be unconscious before being killed. Methods used include a stun gun, the use of electric shock or the use of gas.
Traditional Jewish (Kosher) and Muslim (Halal) methods however insist that the animal be conscious when it is killed by having its throat slit, and these exceptions to the humane slaughter of animals are permitted by European Union legislation for reasons related to the freedom of religious expression. These exceptions are denounced by animal rights associations and figurehead animal rights defender Brigitte Bardot says that “I can no longer tolerate that conscious animals have their throats cut like in the Middle Ages in order to please a god whereas there are modern means which could avoid the animals’ suffering.”

Source: http://plus.lefigaro.fr/note/animal-rights-groups-slam-halal-meat-cruelty-20110120-379256

Airborne pathogens can induce mad cow disease, new findings suggest

Airborne prions are also infectious and can induce mad cow disease or Creutzfeldt-Jakob disorder, new findings suggest. This is the surprising conclusion of researchers at the University of Zurich, the University Hospital Zurich and the University of Tübingen. They recommend precautionary measures for scientific labs, slaughterhouses and animal feed plants. The prion is the infectious agent that caused the epidemic of mad cow disease, also termed bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), and claimed the life of over 280,000 cows in the past decades.
Transmission of BSE to humans, e.g. by ingesting food derived from BSE-infected cows, causes variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease which is characterized by a progressive and invariably lethal break-down of brain cells. It is known that prions can be transmitted through contaminated surgical instruments and, more rarely, through blood transfusions.

Source: Veterinary Sciences Tomorrow

ONLINE CONFERENCES

BioConference Live is Back This Spring!

Login March 23rd and 24th between 9AM and 6PM EST

Topics Include:

Neuroscience, Nervous Systems Disorders, Genetic Disorders, Human Genetics, Alzheimer's Disease, Cellular Mechanisms, Genomics, Superior Autobiographical Memory, Gene Expression, Genetics - Eye Disorders, and more.

Life Sciences

March 23-24, 2011

Clinical Diagnostics

June 15-16, 2011

Life Sciences

October 26-27, 2011

Dog Flu Pandemic Alert, Canine Flu

There is no doubt that the hand of the much talked about "bird flu" influenza virus recently became one of the "starlets" of global health. While many health experts, more or less spirit to generate concern, announced the early arrival of a pandemic, small animal veterinarians were professionally far enough outside the theme, if not directly influenced our work. However, a strong new alarm is sounding: in the U.S. and there are hundreds of cases of dogs infected with a strain of influenza, the same suffering horses.

Information on the Internet is vast. The Chronicle Veterinary contacted her after learning that in the latest edition of the North American Veterinary Conference, one of the most surprising news that was caused precisely that of the "Dog Flu".

There are few who are paying attention to the issue. In fact, nothing less than The New York Times, one of the world's most prestigious newspaper, published an article on September 22, 2005 titled "A new and deadly Canine Flu is detected in seven states."

According to this note, a highly contagious and sometimes deadly "Dog Flu" was detected in kennels and dog racing tracks around the U.S. The virus killed dogs even in suburban New York.

A researcher at the University of Florida, Dr. Cynda Crawford, said the virus spreads more easily where dogs live together or spend time in parks or nurseries, but can be spread on the street and even from men. "Workers of the kennels carried the virus to their homes," he said. The New York Times, it is unclear how many dogs have died from this flu, but it is estimated that 1% of those infected, a figure that grows by 10% between the pups and aging pets. In addition, Dr. Crawford added that because dogs have no natural immunity against influenza, virtually every animal exposed would be infected, and that the symptoms were often mistaken for "Kennel Cough". What are the signs of the flu? High fever, mucus, cough. Some animals may suffer pneumonia.

The strain is the H3N8 influenza. According to reports from virologists from Cornell University published in the journal Science, the gene sequence contains all segments of the virus affecting horses.

However, the variant equine / canine is very different from the H5N1 avian influenza and attacking men. So while no investigator ruled that in future the evil becomes a zoonosis, we do not see it as an imminent danger. It was not yet any reports of cats have been infected by contact with sick dogs.

Several scholars note that there is still no vaccine for Canine Flu, but believe it would not be so difficult to develop. Among other things, ensure that the Canine Flu is less lethal than parvovirus. Also, note that several laboratory tests showed that the new flu was successfully combated with two common antivirals in the U.S., amantadine and Tamiflu (the same one that seeks to use to fight bird flu), but the use of these drugs in dogs was not yet authorized.

The first sign of the "Dog Flu" was registered in 2004, when eight of the 24 greyhounds who lived in kennels for a racetrack in Jacksonville, Fla., died after flu-like symptoms and developed pulmonary hemorrhage. Then there were cases in Massachusetts, Arizona, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Texas and Iowa these racecourses and breeding states were forced to close for weeks for disinfection intense. Then came 35 cases in Ossining, a town near New York, and two of the dogs died. The last episode was in Chestnut Ridge, also near New York, where 88 dogs became ill and ten had to be hospitalized. It is estimated that U.S. there are about 50 million dogs.