1 EDITORIAL A good surveillance system has many working cogs: you are the most important cog of all. Our surveillance system is in place not only to provide credible, justifiable surveillance information to our trading partners, but to improve disease analysis, predict emergence and spread and provide early warning of disease incursion. To achieve this, we require as much data as we can get, as quickly as possible. This is where you come in. It is only with your help that we can continue reporting on Victoria’s animal health and identify emerging problems as soon as they arise. HELP US I MPROVE SURVEILLANCE! Timeframes Whist it’s sometimes the last thing on your mind (or the last thing you want to think about at the end of a long day! ), timeliness in reporting of disease data is crucial to our state- wide disease surveillance efforts – those that underpin our prosperous agricultural economy. Prompt reporting of disease data helps us to identify a problem early. Finding lameness in a sheep flock in the far west of the state may not ring any alarm bells to the investigating veterinarian. However, several incoming reports of undiagnosed lameness in flocks throughout the west will trigger alarm bells that something more sinister is afoot - and we can go and investigate it immediately. An extended time period between detection and notification to DEPI could result in a disease outbreak of a far greater magnitude. March-April 2014 VETSOURCE @ DEPI Animal health and welfare information for Victorian veterinary practitioners is available at VetSource CONTENTS Editorial 1 Help us improve surveillance! 1 February and March surveillance 2 Refresher course - pigs 3 ABLV detection 3 TSE incentive doubled – sheep brains 4 Across the nation 4 Around the world 5 What’s happening 6 Tailpiece 7 Department of Environment and Primary Industries To unsubscribe from this newsletter, please email: [email protected]with Unsubscribe as the subject line.
Transcript
1
EDITORIAL
A good surveillance system has many working cogs: you are
the most important cog of all. Our surveillance system is in
place not only to provide credible, justifiable surveillance
information to our trading partners, but to improve disease
analysis, predict emergence and spread and provide early
warning of disease incursion. To achieve this, we require as
much data as we can get, as quickly as possible. This is where
you come in. It is only with your help that we can continue
reporting on Victoria’s animal health and identify emerging
problems as soon as they arise.
HELP US IMPROVE SURVEILLANCE!
Timeframes
Whist it’s sometimes the last thing on your mind (or the last thing you want to think about at the end of a long day!), timeliness in reporting of disease data is crucial to our state-wide disease surveillance efforts – those that underpin our prosperous agricultural economy.
Prompt reporting of disease data helps us to identify a problem early. Finding lameness in a sheep flock in the far west of the state may not ring any alarm bells to the investigating veterinarian. However, several incoming reports of undiagnosed lameness in flocks throughout the west will trigger alarm bells that something more sinister is afoot - and we can go and investigate it immediately. An extended time period between detection and notification to DEPI could result in a disease outbreak of a far greater magnitude.
March-April 2014
VETSOURCE @ DEPI Animal health and welfare information for Victorian veterinary practitioners is available at VetSource
CONTENTS
Editorial 1
Help us improve surveillance! 1
February and March surveillance
2
Refresher course - pigs 3
ABLV detection 3
TSE incentive doubled – sheep brains
4
Across the nation 4
Around the world 5
What’s happening 6
Tailpiece 7
Department of Environment and Primary Industries
To unsubscribe from this newsletter, please email: [email protected] with Unsubscribe as the
Make sure you notify department staff of disease investigations, particularly suspect emergency animal diseases, as soon as practical. This, along with forwarding all required paperwork in a timely fashion, will ensure we remain ahead of the disease emergence game.
To report pests and diseases of animals, call the Emergency Animal Disease Hotline - 1800 675 888 (all hours).
Notifiable disease responsibilities
A number of serious animal diseases are on the Victorian Governments’ notifiable diseases list, and their obligations are defined under the Livestock Disease Control Act (1994). These diseases, when suspected by producers or veterinarians, MUST be reported to an Inspector of Livestock within the required timeframe. This means that if you take samples for leptospirosis, infectious laryngotracheitis, listeriosis or any other notifiable disease on farm, you must fill in and submit a Form for Providing Notification to DEPI. Importantly, it is not the laboratory’s responsibility to forward DEPI the results, the submitting practitioner has this obligation.
FEBRUARY AND MARCH SURVEILLANCE
During February and March the usual culprits were a hindrance to production, with salmonellosis diagnosed on 18 cattle farms (mostly dairy enterprises), and bovine viral diarrhoea on six. Campylobacterosis and selenium deficiency were also a cause for concern, each diagnosed four times on a mixture of sheep and cattle properties, mainly in the southwest of the state. No emergency animal diseases (EADs) were detected, despite all our efforts to detect them! Exclusion testing ruled out foot-and-mouth disease in a Gippsland beef herd that had experienced anorexia, salivation and oral ulceration. Anthrax exclusion was performed on a sheep property in the Goulburn Valley after 30 animals were found dead; urea toxicity was identified as the cause. Avian influenza was excluded in seven poultry disease investigations, which were subsequently diagnosed with infectious laryngotracheitis (two instances), Marek’s disease (three instances), starvation, and predation injuries. Five instances of theileriosis were detected, four in Gippsland and one in northeast Victoria. These followed rainfall peaks in both areas in late 2013 (Figure 2, following page), which likely promoted proliferation of the parasites’ vector (Haemaphysalis longicornis tick). Fortunately, all but one investigation saw only a single sick animal.
Figure 1: Location of disease event investigations by farming
We think that theileria parasites have spread through much of the cattle population in these two regions, resulting in herd immunity; significant losses should be restricted to those herds which have remained naïve to the parasite. This may have been the case in the remaining Gippsland investigation, where nine of 50 cattle died from infection. Remember, the most important factor with regard to infected cattle is peace and quietness. Sick animals should not be stressed in any way.
AUSTRALIAN BAT LYSSAVIRUS DETECTED IN VICTORIAN BAT
Australian bat lyssavirus (ABLV) has been detected in a bat in Victoria’s north, the 11th detection in the state since 1996. ABLV is a zoonotic disease closely related to rabies virus and was first identified in Australia in 1996. Research suggests the prevalence in wild bat populations is less than 1%. Transmission to people has never occurred in Victoria; however three cases, all fatal, have occurred in Queensland. EOIS BEING SOUGHT: VETERINARIAN REFRESHER COURSE - PIGS
Are you a veterinarian working in a rural or peri-urban area with a growing population of backyard/small landholder pig-enthusiasts? Would you like to increase your confidence with these owners and their animals, perhaps even want to increase your pig client base? Then the DEPI Pig Health and Research Unit is developing the ideal short course for you! The refresher course training program is designed for general practitioner veterinarians who want to increase their knowledge and clinical skills working with pigs. The course aims to address to address all elements of working with pigs, including review of on-farm performance records; practical handing and sample collection; post mortem techniques; environmental auditing and disease control; and welfare assessment and advice. The course will run over two days in Epsom, Bendigo, later this year. Day 1 is in the classroom discussing common pig diseases, welfare, housing and nutrition. Day 2 is on-farm in the morning with hands-on pig work (catching, restraining, blood collection, body condition scoring, euthanasia) and in the post mortem room in the afternoon. All costs associated with attending the course are subsidised by DEPI. Expression of Interest are sought from veterinarians across the state who would like to know more about this opportunity. Please contact Dr Trish Holyoake, Principal Veterinary Officer – [email protected] – to find out more.
Figure 2: Rainfall (mm) August 2013-March 2014, Lakes Entrance (Gippsland) and Corryong (northeast Victoria).
NATIONAL TSE PROGRAM: INCENTIVE DOUBLED FOR SHEEP BRAINS
The National Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies Surveillance Program (NTSESP) enables Australia to prove to our trading partners and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) that we are free from TSEs, including scrapie in sheep. Thanks to funding from the Sheepmeat Council of Australia and WoolProducers, the incentive payment for producers submitting sheep brains for testing has doubled to $100. The increase in payment is designed to ensure that Australia continues to receive the quota of animals for testing to retain our TSE-free status.
It is important to let producers know of the changes.
Producers who have eligible animals tested as part of the program can claim:
$300 (excluding GST) for cattle $100 (excluding GST) for sheep
Private veterinarians who examine cases of nervous disease in cattle and sheep and submit samples and documentation (three forms) for eligible cases under the NTSESP can claim rebates per animal for:
Disease investigation (vet fees) $200 (exc. GST) for cattle OR $100 (exc. GST) for sheep
Collection and documentation $100 (exc. GST)
Freight of samples to the laboratories $25 (exc. GST). More information about the NTSESP can be found at: http://www.depi.vic.gov.au/agriculture-and-food/pests-diseases-and-weeds/animal-diseases/vetsource-information-for-vets/national-tse-surveillance-program
ACROSS THE NATION
Exercise Odysseus
If Australia had an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), a critical measure in limiting the spread will be to stop the movement of all susceptible livestock, initially for a period of 72 hours. Australia has strong quarantine measures in place to ensure continued freedom from FMD, however the 2001 outbreak in the United Kingdom and European Union, and the virus’s continual activity across the globe, are strong reminders of the need to be well prepared for the threat of incursion a key measure of which is a livestock standstill. In fact, a review of the 2001 FMD outbreak estimated that had a national movement ban been imposed three days earlier, the epidemic could have been reduced by 30-50%! An Australian series of simulated livestock standstill events coined “Exercise Odysseus” recently kicked off in Victoria. The exercise is focused on issues associated with the arrangement and implementation of a national standstill, including the decision-making processes and communication and coordination between agencies and industry.
In the event of an incursion of a serious livestock disease such as FMD, a well-planned and well-executed livestock standstill will be critical to allow for outbreak investigation and tracing to take place. Exercise Odysseus will bring together government biosecurity staff and members of various industry bodies and stakeholder groups to test the procedures that will come into play in the event of such an incursion. Ensuring cessation of all livestock movements in the face of an outbreak will minimise the spread of the disease, reducing the devastating economic and social consequences an outbreak would have on producers, industries and the economy. Further exercises are planned across the nation in the coming months. More information about Exercise Odysseus can be found at: http://www.daff.gov.au/animal-plant-health/emergency/exercises/exercise_odysseus
First case of Hendra for 2014
Biosecurity Queensland has reported a case of Hendra virus in Bundaberg, Queensland. A horse became unwell and was euthanized by a veterinarian on 17 March and laboratory tests subsequently confirmed Hendra virus infection. To read more, visit http://www.daff.qld.gov.au/services/news-and-updates/animals/news/new-hendra-virus-case-confirmed-in-bundaberg-area Hendra virus disease has never been identified in Victoria and the risk of horses contracting the disease in the state is considered low. Further information about Hendra virus can be found on DEPI’s website: http://www.depi.vic.gov.au/agriculture-and-food/pests-diseases-and-weeds/animal-diseases/horses/hendra-virus
AROUND THE WORLD
Australia: free trade agreement (FTA) with Korea publically released
Australia’s FTA with Korea significantly improves agricultural market access by delivering tariff elimination on key agriculture exports including beef, for which Korea is our third largest market, and dairy. The agreement will create opportunities for growth in our agricultural exports. Further information and the full text of the Korea-Australia FTA can accessed on the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website: www.dfat.gov.au/fta/kafta/. Detection of atypical BSE – Germany
Two cases of rare atypical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) have been identified during routine screening at slaughter in Germany. Unlike typical BSE, which is associated with consumption of contaminated feed, atypical BSE is thought to be a spontaneous mutation. Germany’s last case of atypical BSE was identified in 2009. The country is unlikely to see its OIE BSE status altered as a result of the recent events, as the OIE does not recognise atypical forms
of BSE for the purpose of international standards. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of disease screening programs, such as the NTSESP here in Australia (see earlier article).
FMD Watch
Foot-and-mouth disease continues to be active across parts of Africa, North Korea, Vietnam, Russia and Mongolia. For more information of the latest disease outbreaks across the globe, please visit: http://www.oie.int/wahis_2/public/wahid.php/Diseaseinformation/WI
Figures 7 and 8: Outbreak (above) and Distribution (below) maps of current FMD events, February-March 2014.
WHAT’S HAPPENING OUT THERE?
For the latest edition of the Department of Agriculture’s EAD alerts, visit: Emergency and Exotic Animal Diseases - Bulletins and Alerts
For the April edition of Global Epidemiological News, visit: http://www.epidemiologicalnews.com/april2014.htm.
“The effect of genetic selection for Johne’s disease resistance in dairy cattle: Results of a genetic-epidemiological model” was released in the March issue of the Journal of Dairy Science. Read the abstract and access the full article at: http://www.journalofdairyscience.org/article/S0022-0302%2814%2900103-9/abstract.
