►
Cattle Temperament Impacts
Immune Response
Calm calves appear to have a better response to vaccination at weaning than
temperamental calves, says the Texas Ag Experiment Station. This better
vaccination response means the calmer calves are less likely to develop
sickness or die of disease.
Earlier research has shown cattle that speed out of the handling chute eat
and gain less, and yield tougher steaks. The Texas A&M University (TAMU)
study is one the first to look at the animal's immune response in relation
to temperament.
TAMU animal scientist Ron Randel, working with other Texas and USDA
researchers, divided 6- to 7-month-old Brahman bull calves from the Overton
research center's 2004 spring calf crop into two groups: the calmest and the
most temperamental. The calves were grouped based on their "exit velocity,"
the speed at which they exit a handling chute, and "pen scores," where
visual observations about the animal's response to confinement and humans
are recorded.
During the 11-week trial the team analyzed calves' blood samples for the
antibody response specific to clostridial vaccinations. On the study's 6th
day, both calf groups showed "significant" immune
response to the vaccination. But by the 6th week, the calm calves had a 50%
greater antibody response than the temperamental calves.
After the booster shot on the 42nd day, the peak immunological response was
delayed in the temperamental calves compared to the calm calves. Also, the
temperamental calves' immune response decreased from day 49 to the end of
the study. The calm calves' immune response didn't significantly decrease
after the booster. At the end of the study, the calm calves had more than a
60% advantage in immune response.
"Not only did the calmer calves have a greater response to the vaccine, they
did a better job of sustaining antibody levels previously produced," Randel
says. "In addition to the benefits of increased vaccination response, the
calm bull calves out-gained their more temperamental counterparts by more
that 0.3 lbs./day over the length of the study."
For a news article on how animal temperament relates to tenderness of meat,
see
agnews.tamu.edu/dailynews/stories/ANSC/Apr0504a.htm.
►
INDONESIA: WHO
confirms bird flu death in Indonesia
The World Health Organization has confirmed an Indonesian girl who died last
month was infected with bird flu, a health ministry official said Thursday,
bringing Indonesia's total confirmed bird flu deaths to 38.
► New
Animal Brain Disease Reported In England
British officials are advising the public to avoid mutton, goat and some
sausages due to an animal brain disease affecting sheep that may pose a risk
to humans. The Times of London reports the disease is similar to
classic scrapie, a brain-wasting disease known in sheep for more than 100
years but which until now hasn't raised concerns for humans. The nation's
Food Standard Agency (FSA) says it can't rule out the risk of the atypical
strain to human health, so it's updating guidance to shoppers. It also plans
to ask the European Commission for the immediate introduction of new
labeling rules to identify products containing mutton.
►
Wild Birds' Role in HPAI
Crisis Confirmed
Migrating wild birds have played and will likely continue to play a role in
transporting highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus, or bird flu,
over long distances. This was among the main conclusions of a two-day
international scientific conference called by the UN Food and Agriculture
Organization and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). But the
conference, attended by over 300 scientists from more than 100 countries
also recognized that the virus was mainly spread through poultry trade, both
legal and illegal.
► INDONESIA:
Bird Flu Kills 8-Year-Old Indonesian Girl
Local tests showed an 8-year-old girl has died of bird flu, a health
official said Friday, the latest case in a spike putting Indonesia on pace
to become the world's hardest-hit country. The World Health Organization has
yet to confirm the death, which would bring the country's official death
toll from the H5N1 virus to 37. The girl, from Pamulang on the outskirts of
Jakarta, died late Thursday after apparently coming into contact with sick
poultry, said Nyoman Kandun, a senior Health Ministry official.
A Japanese research team claimed this week it succeeded in
delaying the onset of symptoms of prion disease, the Kyodo News reports. The
researchers -- Suehiro Sakaguchi, a Nagasaki University assistant professor,
and Daisuke Ishibashi, a Science and Technology Agency researcher -- did so
by inoculating mice with normal prion proteins taken from other animals. The
study was presented Tuesday at a meeting of the Japanese Society for
Virology in Yokohama.
Last year, the EU and its Member States awarded post-doctoral positions
to at least 11 000 people. Despite this impressive record, there is still
too much fragmentation in the Union’s post-doc landscape.
According to a conservative and non-exhaustive survey conducted by the
European Commission, at least 10 700 post-doc positions (schemes or
programmes resulting from an open call for proposals) were awarded across
the EU in 2004, including 2 100 by pan-European organisations, mainly
through the Commission’s Marie Curie programme.
The inventory exercise also found that the average duration of a post-doc
was 2 years and the average post-doc candidate earned €22 700 per year.
However, there is a noticeable trend in several European countries of
providing longer five year, or more, contracts to allow post-docs to pursue
longer-term research objectives. These programmes are offered by countries
such as Austria, Finland, Germany, Spain, Turkey and the UK.
The study – which was launched in October 2004 as part of the
preparations for the forthcoming Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) – found
that most post-doc schemes in Europe were open to foreign researchers, i.e.
non-nationals of the country offering them. Furthermore, more and more
schemes are targeting nationals working abroad.
►
Researchers must
move around more, says Liberali
The EU Commission has received signals that individual
Member States have now begun taking seriously discussions about the exchange
of researchers, according to Raffaele Liberali, Director of 'the human
factor, mobility and Marie Curie actions' within the Commission's Research
DG. '[This] is positive, because we need to make it easier and more
attractive for researchers to cross borders. In the future, researchers must
move around more,' he said, during a recent conference in Oslo that marked
the launch of the Mobility Portal in Norway.
One of the reasons why researcher mobility has received increased interest
is the EU priority of investing in skills and education, research and
innovation in order to boost growth and create more jobs by making Europe a
more attractive place in which to invest and work.
One way to reach this goal is for individual countries to raise their
contributions to research to three per cent of gross national product (GNP).
'But to invest in research is to invest in people. Raising the contribution
to research to three per cent of GNP means recruiting 500,000 to 700,000 new
researchers in Europe. The Commission will therefore prioritise making it
more attractive for European youth to choose a career in research as well as
stimulate 'emigration' of researchers from countries outside the EU and
Europe,' said Mr Liberali.
Thus, along with traditional dissemination of information about researcher
mobility and the different opportunities offered by a career in research,
the Commission has launched two documents: a 'European charter for
researchers' and a 'code of conduct for researchers', which make
recommendations as to the best means to develop research policies that
encourage researcher mobility and recruiting. The Commission wants
individual countries cooperating within the EU to establish a set of common,
generally recognised rights and duties for researchers.
Mr Liberali acknowledges that a career in research can often feel uncertain:
'If you are pregnant or sick, there is always another that is ready to hop
into you position, and it is not always a given that you can get the
position back later. Another point is the intense requirement to publish -
'publish or perish!'. If someone, for example, is a researcher in industry,
where it is not as typical to publish as often as within academic
institutions, this quality requirement can be unfair.'
By which means one should take care that this common directive is integrated
into each individual country's research policy was one of the questions
raised at the conference. 'The European charter for researchers and the Code
of conduct for researchers are not directives that will be forced on the
government and the research environment. We, in the Commission, see these
documents as part of the process of increasing awareness,' said Mr Liberali.
'But I am not a man that only believes in good intentions. I also believe in
action. We cannot shape a research policy only with the help of carrots.
Some coercion must also exist', he added, pointing at the possibility of
including mobility as part of the review criteria used to fill research
positions.
'An important link in the EU Commission's work to promote mobility is
establishing an Internet portal for international distribution of research
positions, with information about offers and conditions in individual
countries, which will make it easier for researchers to orient themselves. A
network of mobility centres offering practical advice and hints for
researchers and their families both before and after they have moved,'
explained Mr Liberali.
The Norwegian track in this information highway was established by the
Research Council of Norway and includes mobility centres in universities,
trade schools, research institutes and industry. In addition, a mobility
portal, launched during the conference, has been created with the double
purpose of informing foreign researchers that want to work in Norway and
Norwegian researchers who wish to travel abroad.
Norwegian Minister of Education and Research, Kristin Clement, declared:
'Increased international research cooperation and increased mobility to
Norway is necessary to ensure that Norwegian researchers maintain high
quality and are competitive. The Norwegian mobility portal is an important
step to strengthen such cooperation.'
For further information, please visit:
reers/index_en.cfm
►
Good news for Hepatitis B
patients
Scientists have created a powerful new treatment for hepatitis using a
revolutionary technique that switches off harmful genes, providing hope for
the two billion infected worldwide with the B strain of the virus. The
scientists have found that a few regular injections of the new drug can
result in a 90 per cent reduction in the amount of virus circulating in the
bloodstream of infected animals. The replication of the hepatitis B virus is
blocked by the phenomenon of RNA interference, which switches off the genes
it needs for survival. Results of a study have shown that RNA interference
can work so effectively against invading viruses such as hepatitis that
scientists believe the technique can be developed to produce an entirely new
class of antiviral drugs. RNA interference has been described as one of the
most exciting developments in medical science and the latest study has shown
it is able to stop the spread of hepatitis B virus in infected laboratory
mice. The results of the study, published in the journal Nature
Biotechnology, are so encouraging that the scientists are planning to begin
the first human trials of RNA interference on hepatitis B patients at the
end of next year. Some two billion people have been infected with the
hepatitis B virus and more than 350 million have chronic or lifelong
infections that often kill by causing liver cirrhosis and cancer. Although
there are vaccines to protect against infection, the drugs to treat
hepatitis B are relatively ineffective as well as being prohibitively
expensive for most of the people in the developing world who are chronically
infected. The latest study by David Morrissey and colleagues at the
biotechnology company Sirna Therapeutics in Boulder, Colorado, used a form
of RNA interference that switches off key genes of the hepatitis virus that
it needs to replicate. Dr Morrissey wrapped short molecules of RNA
that were specifically targeted against the hepatitis B virus in a fatty
globule that was able to carry or "deliver" the drug into infected cells of
the liver. A few daily injections were followed by a single injection given
once a week, which reduced the amount of hepatitis B virus in the
bloodstream by 90 per cent, with the effect lasting six weeks. RNA
interference was first described in 1998 and since then it has caused a stir
inside the medical community because of its potential to deal with a range
of illness, from cancer and viruses to inherited disorders such as
Huntington's disease. Sirna Therapeutics has already begun a trial of RNA
interference on patients suffering from age-related macular degeneration,
which causes visual impairment in many thousands of people over 50. About a
quarter of people over the age of 65 are affected by the disorder. Sirna has
developed a form of RNA interference designed to switch off or silence a key
gene that is thought to stimulate the growth of blood vessels at the back of
the eye which leads to macular degeneration. - INDEPENDENT
►
Human
Tuberculosis Caused by
Mycobacterium bovis
In March 2004, a U.S.-born boy aged 15 months in New York
City (NYC) died of peritoneal tuberculosis (TB) caused by Mycobacterium bovis
infection. M. bovis, a bacterial species of
the M. tuberculosis complex, is a pathogen that primarily infects
cattle. However, humans also can become infected, most commonly through
consumption of unpasteurized milk products from infected cows. In
industrialized nations, human TB caused by M. bovis is rare because
of milk pasteurization and culling of infected cattle herds (1). This
report summarizes an ongoing, multiagency* investigation that has identified
35 cases of human M. bovis infection in NYC. Preliminary findings
indicate that fresh cheese (e.g., queso fresco) brought to NYC from Mexico
was a likely source of infection. No evidence of human-to-human transmission
has been found. Products from unpasteurized cow's milk have been associated
with certain infectious diseases and carry the risk of transmitting M.
bovis if imported from countries where the bacterium is common in
cattle. All persons should avoid consuming products from unpasteurized cow's
milk.
►
How is bovine
tuberculosis controlled in Canada?
Bovine tuberculosis is a reportable disease in Canada. When
it is reported, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) follows a strict
testing and eradication program. Regulations require that all infected
animals as well as all exposed susceptible animals be destroyed. This is the
only proven way to eliminate the disease. Because 95 percent of all
commercial animals slaughtered are sent to a federal abattoir, the CFIA uses
an abattoir surveillance system which looks primarily for tuberculosis-like
lesions in the lymph nodes of slaughtered animals. When a farm has been
declared infected, it is immediately put under quarantine and the provincial
health department in the area of the known infection is alerted.
►
Impact
factors and their significance; overrated or misused?
C. Scully and H. Lodge
The journal impact factor (IF) is in widespread use
for the evaluation of research and researchers, and considerable controversy
surrounds it. The concept behind the IF is citations, and the number of them. The IF is a useful tool for the
evaluation of journals, but it must be used carefully. Considerations
include the number of review papers, letters or other types of material
published in a journal, variations between disciplines, and item-by-item
impact. Perhaps the most important use of the IF is in the process of
academic evaluation. The extent to which the IF is appropriate for the
evaluation of the quality of a specific article or journal and
particularly for the evaluation of individual and collective research
achievements is highly debatable.
For more details
http://www.nature.com
►
Nature and potential consequences of transboundary animal diseases
All animal diseases have the potential to adversely affect
human populations by reducing the quantity and/or quality of food, other
livestock products (hides, skins, fibers) and animal power (traction,
transport) that can be obtained from a given quantity of resources and by
reducing peoples’ assets. Of these, transboundary animal diseases tend have
the most serious consequences. Transboundary animal diseases may be
defined as those epidemic diseases which are highly contagious or
transmissible and have the potential for very rapid spread, irrespective of
national borders, causing serious socio-economic and possibly public health
consequences. These are diseases which cause a high morbidity and
mortality in susceptible animal populations and they constitute a constant
threat to the livelihood of livestock farmers. Furthermore, their potential
consequences are of such a magnitude that their occurrence may also have a
significant detrimental effect on national economies.
Transboundary animal
diseases have the potential to:
-
threaten food
security through serious loss of animal protein and/or loss of draught
animal power for cropping.
-
increase poverty levels particularly in poor communities
that have a high dependence on livestock farming for sustenance;
-
cause major
production losses for livestock products such as meat; milk and other
dairy products; wool and other fibres and skins and hides, thereby
reducing farm incomes. They may also restrict opportunities for upgrading
the production potential of local livestock industries by making it
difficult to utilise exotic high producing breeds which tend to be very
susceptible to the transboundary diseases;
-
add significantly to
the cost of livestock production through the necessity to apply costly
disease control measures;
-
seriously disrupt or
inhibit trade in livestock and livestock products either within a country
or internationally. Their occurrence may thereby cause major losses in
national export income in significant livestock-producing countries;
-
cause public health
consequences in the case of those transboundary animal diseases which can
be transmitted to humans (i.e. zoonoses);
-
cause environmental
consequences through die-offs in wildlife populations in some cases, and
-
cause pain and suffering for affected animals.
►
IMPORT OF POULTRY MEAT INTO
EUROPE.
Importation rules for fresh poultry meat solely govern the movement of
fresh poultry meat into the EU from third countries. For the purpose of
animal health requirements, fresh poultry meat
means all parts fit for human consumption from
domestic poultry (i.e. fresh meat from chickens, turkeys, guinea
fowl, ducks, geese, quails, pigeons, pheasants, partridges and ratites, e.g.
ostriches, emu and rhea).
1. Poultry meat must
fulfil the animal health requirements
laid down in
Council Directive 91/494/EEC of 26 June 1991. This Directive, which
has been amended several times, harmonises the rules and establishes
the animal health guarantees for the import into the territory of the
Community of fresh poultry meat.
-
The objective of this harmonisation is to make
sure that the same principles for importation of poultry are
applied in all the Member States and prevent meat from entering EU territory carrying
>infectious
diseases that are dangerous for livestock or humans.
-
Directive 91/494/EEC describes the
animal health
principles on which importation is based, and the requirements to
be fulfilled by a third country to be authorised to export fresh
poultry meat. The most important aspects are:
-
the health status of poultry, other domestic
animals and wild life.
-
the regularity and rapidity of
information on
infectious animal diseases provided by the third country to the
Commission and the OIE.
-
the country's rules on the prevention and control of animal
diseases.
-
the organisation, structure, competence and
power of the veterinary services.
-
In addition, other more specific conditions are
laid down in this Directive as regards certain infectious diseases. For example,
Avian influenza (AI) and
Newcastle disease (ND) must be legally notifiable diseases in the
third country. The third country must also be classified as either
being free of these two diseases or have appropriate control measures
in place. (The mechanism of classifying third countries in regard to
AI and ND is laid down in
Commission Decision 94/438/EC).
-
Under Directive 91/494/EEC, depending on the animal
health situation and the guarantees offered by a third country, it is
possible to confine imports of fresh poultry meat to particular
species of poultry or from only a part of a territory of a third
country (regionalisation).
2. Before a third country
or part of it is authorised to export fresh poultry meat into the EU,
the Commission's Food and Veterinary Office (FVO)
carries out a mission to verify that
all the criteria provided for in Directive 91/494/EEC are properly
fulfilled.
3. Based on the principles
contained in Directive 91/494/EEC and on the results of the FVO mission,
the third country may be added to the list of third countries authorised
for the export of fresh poultry meat as laid down in
Commission Decision 94/85/EC, as last amended. For a third country
wanting to export fresh poultry meat to the EU it must be listed in this
Decision.
4. When a third country or
part thereof has been listed in Commission Decision 94/85/EC, then it is
in principle approved for export to the EU.
However, further steps are needed before
exports of fresh poultry meat can take place. An assessment
of the specific disease situation is carried out. Special conditions
may be required to minimise potential disease risks. These conditions
are laid down in specific Decisions and are reflected in the
requirements in the veterinary animal health certificate which must
accompany all poultry entering the EU.
The specific Decisions
differentiate between various classifications of poultry meat to reflect
different disease susceptibility, biological differences and breeding
conditions between poultry and indeed game birds.
Therefore, the animal health conditions, the veterinary health
certificates for import and lists of authorised third countries are
maintained in three separate Decisions,
according to the different categories of fresh poultry meat. A
description of the approved region of the country is also given where
appropriate.
-
fresh poultry meat from species other than
ratites :
Commission Decision 94/984/EC, as last amended.
-
fresh ratite meat :
Commission Decision 2000/609/EC.
-
fresh meat from farmed game birds
and wild birds :
click here.
5.
Poultry meat entering the Community is
inspected at a Border Inspection Post (BIP) (as listed in
Commission Decision 2001/881/EC of 7 December 2001, as last amended)
where Member States' official veterinarians ensure they fulfil all the
requirements provided for in the European legislation. (
Council Directive 97/78/EEC of 18 December 1997 lays down the
principles governing the organisation of veterinary checks on animal
products entering the Community from third countries).
6. It should be noted that
in order to import fresh poultry meat,
third countries must also comply with certain
public health requirements. For example, a country is
required to have an approved 'residue'
plan. Details of the public health requirements can be found [HERE].
A summary providing 'General
guidance for third country authorities on procedures to be followed when
importing live animals and animal products into the EU' can be found
[HERE]
► IMPORT OF MILK
AND MILK PRODUCTS INTO EUROPE. The importation rules for milk and milk products for human consumption
solely govern the introduction of those products into the EU from third
countries.
1. Milk and milk products
for import into the EU must fulfil certain basic animal health criteria
for import into the EU. This ensures that milk and milk products also
conform to the animal health requirements laid down in Community
legislation and is intended to safeguard the animal health situation in
the EU. Hence
-
all third countries wishing to
export milk and milk products into the EU must be included in the
list of countries authorised for the export of milk and
milk products as laid down in
Commission Decision 95/340/EC. This indicates that the country has
undergone an inspection by the Commission's
Food and Veterinary Office (FVO),
and has demonstrated that they fulfil the basic
animal and public health requirements as laid down in
Council Directive 92/46/EEC of 16 June 1992
The
animal health requirements for
imports of milk and milk products are laid down in
Council Directive 2002/99/EC of 16 December 2002. This Directive
lays down the animal health rules governing the production,
processing, distribution and introduction of products of animal origin
for human consumption and establishes the animal health guarantees
needed for the trade in these products of animal origin. However Member
States do not need to implement this Directive until 1 January 2005.
2. In addition specific
requirements for milk and milk products are provided for import into the
EU. These include the treatment requirements used in the manufacture of
milk and milk product. The treatments are specified in
Commission Decision 95/340/EC and are related to the animal health
situation in the exporting third country. The importation of raw milk
and milk based products made from raw milk is allowed only from third
countries with a high health status, that means as good as in the EU.
From countries in which the animal health situation is not so good (i.e.
vaccination against FMD) only the importation of heat treated milk and
milk based products made from heat treated milk is allowed.
There is also a requirement that all establishments must be authorised
to produce milk and milk products. A list of authorised establishments
is maintained in
Commission Decision 97/252/EC.
3. When a third country or
part thereof has been listed in Council Decision 95/340/EEC, then it is
approved in principle for export milk and milk products to the EU. However,
further steps are needed before
exports of milk and milk products can take place. An assessment of the specific disease situation is carried out, and on
the basis of that assessment, the specific treatment requirements
during the manufacture of milk and milk products to minimise potential
animal health disease risks (e.g. Foot and Mouth Disease) are laid down
for each third country or part thereof.
4. All milk and milk
products for import into the EU must be accompanied by a health
certificate released by the official veterinarian of the exporting
country. The health certificates for importation of milk and milk
products are laid down in
Commission Decision 95/343/EC.
5. Milk and milk products
entering the Community are inspected at a Border Inspection Post (BIP)
(as listed in
Commission Decision 2001/881/EC of 7 December 2001) where Member
States'official veterinarians ensure they fulfil all the requirements
provided for in the European legislation. (
Council Directive 97/78/EC of 18 December 1997 lays down the
principles governing the organisation of veterinary checks on products
of animals origin entering the Community from third countries).
6. As is the case for
fresh meat, third countries must also comply
with certain public health requirements in order to export
milk and milk products. For example, a country is required to have an
approved 'residue'
plan. Details of the public health requirements can be found [HERE].
A summary providing 'General
guidance for third country authorities on procedures to be followed when
importing live animals and animal products into the EU' can be found
[HERE]
|
