Animal Health

Live poultry markets (LPMs) continue to operate in many Asian countries. Low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) viruses are often endemic in the poultry, and LPM presents the opportunity for human-poultry interactions and potential human infections with avian influenza viruses.

As a series of interventions to control avian influenza transmission in Hong Kong LPMs, local health authority implemented market rest days once every month since mid-2001, and an additional rest day every month since 2003, during which all unsold poultry were slaughtered and the stalls cleaned and disinfected. Rest days were found to effectively reduce avian influenza A(H9N2) isolation rate to baseline level for a few days following the rest days. However, H9N2 isolation rate was still observed to be increasing between the rest days, indicating the existence of efficient transmission in spite of rapid turnover of poultry.

In LPMs, poultry are usually stored in cages where drinking water is shared among poultry. This is analogous to environmental contamination in the wild, but transmissibility may even be higher due to the dense environment. The use of drinking water for avian influenza surveillance in LPM setting was suggested to be more sensitive than fecal samples. However, the relative contribution of direct fecal-oral versus water transmission routes in the LPM setting was not yet understood. This study aimed to determine their role, which will have implications in the control of avian influenza transmission. 

Objective

This study assessed the transmission of low pathogenic avian influenza in live poultry market setting, using paired fecal and drinking water samples from a longitudinal surveillance program. The relative contribution of transmission via direct fecal-oral route versus drinking water will be determined. 

Annually sporadic cases of tularemia in humans are registered in Ukraine and new enzootic areas are found. Monitoring of tularemia natural foci is important given the potential significant financial losses in case of tularemia outbreaks and taken into account that this pathogen can be used as a bioterrorist agent.

Objective

Study the activity of natural foci of tularemia and identify the main types of reservoirs and vectors of Francisella tularensis.

Characteristics and conditions of backyard production systems (BPS) transform them into potential maintainers of priority zoonotic agents, like Salmonella spp., highly important agent because of its impact in animal and public health. 

Objective

The purpose of this study was to detect the presence of circulating Salmonella spp. on backyard production systems (BPS) with poultry or swine breeding in central Chile 

Coccidioidomycosis, commonly referred to as Valley Fever, is caused by the soil-borne saprophytic fungus C. immitis and posadasii. These species have historically been found in the desert southwest and Mexico; however, in 2010 there were three coccidioidomycosis cases identified in central Washington. Colonization of soils by C. immitis has been confirmed at exposure sites associated with these cases. Multiple studies have identified a relationship between environmental conditions and C. immitis growth areas, but these relationships have not been evaluated in Washington. The Washington State Department of Health has been conducting environmental surveillance in an effort to understand the geographic distribution of C. immitis in central Washington and the associated risk to humans and animals. Here we describe our environmental surveillance efforts and present preliminary findings related to environmental conditions of C. immitis growth areas in central Washington.

Objective

Our objective is to describe the environmental conditions associated with confirmed Coccidioides immitis growth and accumulation sites in south central Washington in an effort to understand the ecology and identify additional potential sites across this emerging endemic zone. 

USDA-APHIS-VS utilizes several continuous data streams to increase our knowledge of animal health and provide situational awareness of emerging animal health issues. In addition, USDA- APHIS-VS often conducts pilot projects to see if regular data access and analysis are feasible, and if so, if the information generated is useful. Syndromic surveillance was developed for three goals: a syndromic monitoring system to identify new diseases, as an emerging disease early warning system, and to provide situational awareness of animal health status. Current efforts focus on monitoring diverse data, such as laboratory accessions or poison center calls, grouped into syndromic or other health indicator categories, and are not intended to identify specific pre-determined diseases or pathogens. It is essential to regularly evaluate and re-evaluate the effectiveness of our surveillance program. However, there are difficulties when using traditional surveillance evaluation methods, since the objectives and outcomes of monitoring novel data streams from pilot projects are not easily measurable. An additional challenge in the evaluation of these data streams is the identification of a method that can adapt to various context and inputs to make objective decisions. Until recently, assessment efforts have looked at the feasibility of regular analysis and reporting, but not at the utility of the information generated, nor the plausibility and sustainability of longer term or expanded efforts. 

Objective

To implement a systematic and uniform approach to evaluating data sources for syndromic surveillance within the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS) Veterinary Services (VS) group.