Animal Health

Brucellosis is a serious disease caused by bacteria of the Brucella genus. It principally affects ruminants but may be transmitted to humans. Registration of cases in cattle farms causes considerable economic losses and creates favorable conditions for mass infection among humans. In Armenia the expansion of animal industries and urbanization are the main reasons for occurrence and development of brucellosis.

Objective

In the spring of 2014, people from vulnerable households in all marzes of Armenia were examined with the aim of active surveillance.

The APCC hotline fields daily calls regarding potential animal intoxications from the US, its territories, and Canada. We explored the value of these data for identifying increased occurrences of intoxications related to livestock and poultry species, toxicant product categories, clinical syndromes, and illness severity. These data proved valuable for identifying risks of toxicant exposures by species, product category, and season. In addition to identifying intoxication risks to animal health, these data could be used to monitor for infectious outbreaks that may initially be confused for intoxications.

Objective

To describe the value of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) Poison Control Center (APCC) livestock animal calls as a passive data stream for biosurveillance of number of calls, species affected, toxicant exposures, and clinical syndromes.

NBIC integrates, analyzes, and shares national biosurveillance information provided from capabilities distributed across public and private sectors. The integration of information enables early warning and shared situational awareness of nationally significant biological events to inform critical decisions directing response and recovery efforts.

The 2014-2015 HPAI H5 outbreak in the U.S. was the largest HPAI outbreak in the country’s history and resulted in the culling of millions of domestic birds and significant economic losses through loss wages, direct production losses, cost of recovery, consumer price increases, and trade restrictions.

NBIC worked closely with liaisons from USDA/APHIS and DOI/ NWHC over the course of the outbreak to integrate information from both agencies and open source reporting into reports and data sets providing early and sustained shared situational awareness to over 1400 federal, state, and local authorities.

Objective

The National Biosurveillance Integration Center (NBIC) coordinated information sharing with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA/APHIS) and the Department of Interior (DOI/ NWHC) to integrate information and provide shared situational awareness of the 2014-2015 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) outbreak in the U.S. across all levels of government.

Statutory veterinary disease surveillance generally focuses on food animals with only minimal resources committed to companion animals. However, the close contact between owners and pets suggests that disease surveillance in these species could benefit both animal and human health.

Following a successful pilot, SAVSNET Ltd. was set up as a joint venture between the University of Liverpool (UoL) and the British Small Animal Veterinary Association (BSAVA) to deliver companion animal health data for research and surveillance. SAVSNET consists of two projects: the first collates results from commercial diagnostic laboratories whilst the second collects data from enrolled veterinary practices for consultations where owners have provided consent by opt-out. Both projects have been approved by the UoL’s Research Ethics Committee and the aims are supported by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS), the UK’s regulatory body for the veterinary profession.

Applications to use the data are encouraged and are assessed by a panel consisting of BSAVA, UoL and independent members. Data access attracts a nominal fee that is used for long-term sustainability. Currently, SAVSNET data is being used for a wide range of projects by academic collaborators, PhD researchers, undergraduate students and commercial companies.

Objective

SAVSNET—the Small Animal Veterinary Surveillance Network—collects and collates real-time data from veterinary diagnostic laboratories and veterinary practices across the UK to support research and disease surveillance in companion animals.

Anthrax is a globally distributed zoonotic disease caused by Bacillus anthracis, a soil-borne, Gram-positive, spore forming bacteria. Bacillus anthracis can infect people who slaughter or eat animals that are infected. Recent reports indicate the incidence of human anthrax has increased steadily over the last several years in Georgia (2007-2012). The Georgian National Animal Health Program has implemented an anthrax control program. The Ministry of Agriculture, the National Food Agency (NFA), and the Laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture (LMA) are engaged in diagnosis and control of anthrax in animals. Epidemiological investigation and surveillance are used to determine the origin of anthrax affected animals and their route of migration, however, for successful implementation, proper animal traceability is required. Identification of cattle is one of the components of epidemiological investigation and has been ongoing in Georgia since 2012.

Anthrax is an acute especially dangerous infectious disease of animals and humans. Bacillus anthracis is a potential bioterrorism tool. In Ukraine, there are favorable natural conditions for the spread of anthrax. There are 13.5 thousand of constantly anthrax-troubled points. Anthrax epidemic situation in Ukraine could be characterized as unstable. Because of the continuing reform of Ukrainian human health entities, the State Sanitary Epidemiological Service (SSES) has lost its control functions and is remaining in an uncertain state, which increases possible risks.

Lyme disease is an emerging disease in Michigan and is the most commonly reported vector-borne illness. The bacterium causing Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi, is transmitted to humans or dogs through the bite of an infected tick. In the spring of 2015, a veterinarian from an island on Lake Michigan began to see locally acquired Lyme disease in pets. In previous years the vector of Lyme disease, Ixodes scapularis, had not been found on the island. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) was invited to the island to conduct an environmental investigation and provide health education to local residents.

Lumpy skin disease (LSD) is a cutaneous disease of livestock caused by a DNA-containing virus belonging to Poxviridae family called Lumpy Skin Disease Virus (LSDV). Another name of the virus is Neethling. The disease is characterized mainly by fever, and lesions appearing on the skin. The incubation period is 6-9 days. Mortality of the disease is about 10%, however, secondary infection of lesions can increase the mortality rate. LSD was first recorded in Zambia, South Africa, then spread to Sudan, Nigeria and European countries. According to information provided by OIE, LSD outbreaks also have spread in Middle Eastern countries including Turkey, where it has been considered endemic since 2007-2008. An outbreak of LSD was also reported in Iran in 2013-2014.

Signs of LSD in Azerbaijan were recorded for the first time in the Region (rayon) of Bilasuvar in May of 2014 and reported to OIE. LSD was quickly suspected, as Bilasuvar neighbors Iran which had recently reported LSD. The same clinical signs were subsequently recorded in cattle in the regions of Jalilabad, Aghdash and Udjar. Some of the cases resulted in death. A PCR assay was set up in the Republican Veterinary Laboratory in Azerbaijan in order to test livestock samples for the disease while an epizootological study was conducted to determine the extent of disease spread within the three affected rayons.

Rabies is a zoonotic disease caused by an RNA virus from the family Rhabdoviridae, genus Lyssavirus. Worldwide distributed, control of rabies has been considered to be particularly amenable to a “One Health” strategy (1). In Chile, rabies was considered endemic in domestic dog population until the late 1960s, when a surveillance program was established, decreasing the number of human cases related to canine variants until the year 1972 (2). Rabies is recognized as a endemic infection in chiropterans of Chile and prompted the surveillance of the agent in this and other species (3).

Objective

This study aims to analyze the evolution of the epidemiological behavior of rabies in Chile during the period 2003 to 2013, through the epidemiological characterization of a number of variables and description of spatial and temporal patterns of animal cases.