Thursday, October 25, 2012
Sunday, September 30, 2012
The battle against rabies - a success story
On World Rabies Day, FAO highlights control project in Bali
28 September 2012, Rome -
Every year, an estimated 55 000 people die from rabies, 95 percent of them in Asia and Africa. Rabies is a viral disease that affects the nervous system, often transmitted by infected dogs. Rabies also kills farm animals.
In Latin America, for example, hundreds of thousands of livestock die every year from rabies contracted from vampire bats. Livestock deaths from rabies occur throughout the world, but often go unreported.
A successful project in Bali, Indonesia, shows that rabies can be controlled by combating the virus in animals, before it can be transmitted to humans.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Mad cow disease case in US was a 'one-off' caused by a mutation
The US Department of Agriculture says there should be no concern about safety of food supply after discovery of BSE.A newly discovered case of mad cow disease in a US dairy herd apparently arose from a one-off mutation that was picked up during random surveillance at an abattoir in California.
The animal was tested as part of a regular inspection programme organised by the US Department of Agriculture that examines tissue from 40,000 slaughtered cattle each year.
Dr John Clifford, the USDA's chief veterinary officer, said the department was continuing its investigation of the case, but added "there should be no concern … about the safety of our food supply."
Despite assertions from Clifford that the case should not affect trade in meat, two of South Korea's largest importers of US beef halted sales.
The disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), is caused by misfolded proteins called prions, which build up in the brain with fatal consequences.
Unlike the viruses that cause many other diseases in farm animals, prions do not spread through casual contact or by coughs and sneezes. The infectious prions are concentrated in certain tissues of the animals, such as the nervous system.
The animal was tested as part of a regular inspection programme organised by the US Department of Agriculture that examines tissue from 40,000 slaughtered cattle each year.
Dr John Clifford, the USDA's chief veterinary officer, said the department was continuing its investigation of the case, but added "there should be no concern … about the safety of our food supply."
Despite assertions from Clifford that the case should not affect trade in meat, two of South Korea's largest importers of US beef halted sales.
The disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), is caused by misfolded proteins called prions, which build up in the brain with fatal consequences.
Unlike the viruses that cause many other diseases in farm animals, prions do not spread through casual contact or by coughs and sneezes. The infectious prions are concentrated in certain tissues of the animals, such as the nervous system.
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