Dr James Wright has made many

contributions to the cause of veteri-

nary preventive medicine, particularly

during the past twenty years with his

service to the American College of

Veterinary Preventive Medicine. Dr

Wright began his service to the Col

lege on the Examinations Committee

in 1986 and served as President of

the Col-

lege

from

1998-

1999.

He is

current-

ly serv-

ing as

the

Secre-

tary of

the Epi-

demiology Specialty, where he has

been a member since 1978. In addi-

tion, Dr Wright has served in a variety

of leadership positions in other pro-

fessional veterinary public health ac-

tivities, including the AVMA Council

on Public Health and Regulatory Vet-

erinary Medicine as vice-chair and

chair; on the AVMA Food Safety Advi-

sory Committee, and as the liaison to

two AVMA Committees, the Psittaco-

sis Compendium Committee and the

Compendium of Measures to Prevent

Disease and Injury Associated with

Animals in Public Settings Commit-

tee.

Dr Wright has been active in his local

associations, serving in leadership

positions for nine different Texas Vet-

erinary Medical Association commit-

tees in the past 10 years, and on six

different committees for the Texas

Public Health Association. Dr Wright

graduated with a BS in veterinary sci-

ence and a DVM from Texas A&M

University, and with a Master of Pre-

ventive Veterinary Medicine from Uni-

versity of California at Davis. He is a

retired Air Force Colonel and is cur-

rently employed as a Regional Zoono-

sis Veterinarian for the Texas Depart-

ment of Health in Tyler, Texas, where

his passion is to work to advance

public health and the One Health ap-

proach to protect the health of peo-

ple and animals.

News & Views

N e w s l e t t e r o f t h e A m e r i c a n C o l l e g e o f V e t e r i n a r y P r e v e n t i v e M e d i c i n e

November 2011, Vol 95

18News & Views 1

President’s Letter 2

ACVPM Meets in St. Louis! 3

Dr. Millicent Eidson Award 4

National Hen Housing Law? 5

AAPHV Strategic Plan 6

Guidance for Bat Euthanasia 7

NSF December 7 Deadline! 8

Diseased Ice Seals 9

PETNet Established 10

ACVPM Diplomate News 11

CDC Diseases Framework 12

APHIS Food Animal Tracing 13

ACVPM Diplomate Accolades 14

Wind Patterns Disease Link? 15

Upcoming Meetings/Events 16

AI Vaccine Promotes Mutation 18

Tis the Season! More on Flu 19

MAD DOG DISEASE? 20

Epidemiology Specialty News 21

Inside this

issue:

Communications Com-

mittee members:

Dr. John New, Jr. jnew@utk.edu

Dr. Tom Berg thomas.Berg@pfizer.com

Dr. Ethel Taylor EVTaylor@cdc.gov Dr. Tom Doker

thomas.doker@gmail.com Please forward any

news or items that you

would like for us to

consider publishing in

the next Newsletter!

Next issue deadline:

10 February 2012

Dr. James Wright has a great appreciation of agri-

culture and a love to create objects out of metal,

such as windmills.-- photo by Kristy Hemmingsen

2

As we approach the holiday season,

our College has wrapped up two of the

big annual milestones – first, Dr. Nan-

cy Fagan and the Internal Affairs Com-

mittee recently completed the

ACVPM’s annual report to the Ameri-

can Board of Veterinary Specialties,

with Dr. Bruce Burnham, Epidemiology Specialty

President, preparing the annual report on behalf of

the Epidemiology Specialty. Dr. Candace McCall,

our Executive Vice President, provided input and

both reports were edited by the Executive Board

(especially Drs. Beth Karp and Scott Brooks). The

report passed the final editing hurdles and we are

thankful for these well-written reports. Dr McCall

recently completed the second big task – accepting

applications from this year’s crop of ACVPM Candi-

dates. We have 41 packets moving to the Creden-

tials Committee for review (83 total applicants).

It’s time to consider next spring’s election for re-

placements on our Executive Board. Nominations

are needed by January 2012. We will have three

vacancies – President-elect, Secretary-Treasurer,

and Councilor. At this point, our incumbents in the

Secretary-Treasurer and Councilor offices have not

mentioned a desire to run for their own or another

office, but they are welcome to do so. You may vol-

unteer, make your wishes known to us, or nominate

those who are willing to serve on our Executive

Board. We prefer that nominees have previously

served on at least one of the College’s committees.

If you are interested or know of someone who is,

please pass the name to Dr. Peggy Carter, Past

President, ACVPM, (Peggycarterdvm@aol.com), who

chairs the Nomination Committee.

This past summer, a “Partnership for Preventive Pet

Healthcare” was announced at the AVMA conven-

tion. Pet visits to veterinarians have decreased and

possibly led to the decline in pet health due to an

increase in prevalence of preventable health condi-

tions such as diabetes and internal parasites in

dogs and cats. The goal of the Partnership is to pro-

vide guidance and ensure veterinary visits lead to

early detection and prevention of disease. A link is

provided here so you may view the entire Partner-

ship initiative: http://pethealthpartnership.org/.

The Partnership is seeking Associate Members to

collaborate with and support the Partnership, and

some of our membership suggested that our Col-

lege might become an Associate Member. The Ex-

ecutive Board considered this idea, but found that

Associate Members are largely pharmaceutical and

vaccine companies with a few veterinary practice

affiliated groups. No other specialty board, such as

the American College of Veterinary Internal Medi-

cine or the American Board of Veterinary Practition-

ers, has come forward to be an Associate Member.

Although prevention is our mantra, the Executive

Board decided Associate Member status would not

be in our best interest. If Diplomates are interested,

they may contact the Partnership for individual par-

ticipation.

The American Board of Veterinary Specialties has

asked each College to provide a plan for periodical-

ly recertifying Diplomates. I appointed an ad hoc

committee to work on options to meet the ABVS

requirement, led by Dr. Peggy Carter and including

Drs. Gary Gackstetter, Sherry Burrer, Marcy Souza,

John Sanders and David Goolsby. The committee is

considering options for recertification (attending

continuing education, presenting at meetings, pub-

lishing articles/reviews, and other pathways), how

often to recertify, different member statuses/levels,

level of difficulty for recertification, and what year

groups will be required to recertify. We understand

from the ABVS that we can expect recertification

requirements to begin within the next two years. If

you have some ideas to contribute, please contact

Dr. Carter; otherwise, you’ll have a chance to ex-

press your preferences in either a survey or a by-

laws vote within the next 18 months.

The Examination Committee recently embarked on

a new initiative to store the question database in a

secure location on the web. Only Exam Committee

members will have access to it. The new database,

when operational, will enable editing/writing ques-

tions without constantly sending edits to other Ex-

am Committee members. The new database should

be much more efficient for Exam Committee work.

This will be the last newsletter before Thanksgiving

and the Christmas holidays. Best wishes to all!

Roger Krogwold, ACVPM President

3

On July 16,

the ACVPM

held our

annual

meeting in

conjunction

with the

AVMA Con-

ference.

Awards:

Distin-

guished

Diplomate

Award: Dr.

Millicent

Eidson, Albany, NY, for contributions to

veterinary preventive medicine. A

1983 graduate of Colorado State Uni-

versity, Dr. Eidson is acting NY State

Epidemiologist and associate chair of

the Department of Epidemiology and

Biostatistics at the University of Albany

School of Public Health. Earlier in her

career, she served as NM State Public

Health Veterinarian (See page 3 for

full article). Helwig-Jennings Award:

Dr. James H. Wright, Tyler, TX, for out-

standing and unwavering service to

the ACVPM. A 1968 graduate of Texas

A&M University, Dr. Wright serves as a

regional zoonosis veterinarian for the

TX Department of Health. He is a re-

tired Air Force colonel (Page 1 article).

Business:

A decision

was made

to revamp

the applica-

tion pro-

cess for

the board

certifica-

tion exami-

nation to

make it

easier for

candidates.

It was also

decided to

handle dues notices and votes elec-

tronically, thereby offering substantial

savings.

New Diplomates: Forty-one new diplo-

mates were welcomed into the college

following successful completion of the

certifying examination. See August

issue (front page) for list of new diplo-

mates!

All members are invited to the annual

meeting which is held along with the

AVMA Conference. This is a good time

to interact with other members and

get involved with the College. Please

plan on attending next year!

Edited from JAVMA (Tom Doker)

Nominations

Open for

Executive

Board

Positions!

President-elect

Secretary-Treasurer

Councilor

Send nominations to: Peggycarterdvm@aol.com

Additional details in Dr.

Krogwold’s letter on

page 2

Due 1 January 2011

EXECUTIVE BOARD: Front row—Drs. Mo Salman, Beth Karp, Marianne Ash, Rosalie Trevejo (past presi-

dent of the Epidemiology Specialty), and Candace McCall. Back row—Drs. John Sanders (ABVS liaison),

Scott Brooks, David Goolsby (past councilor), Roger Krogwold, Bruce Burnham, and Margaret Carter

EXAMINATION COMMITTEE: Front row—Drs. Brad Hildabrand, Dale

Moore (Chair), Renee Funk, Katherine Feldman, and Brian McCluskey

(Vice-chair). Back row—Dr. Roy Berghaus

4

The career path of Dr

Millicent Eidson spans

the width of the U.S.

and the breadth of vet-

erinary preventive

medicine/public

health practice. Cur-

rently serving as the

Acting New York State

Epidemiologist and the

Associate Chair of the

Department of Epide-

miology and Biostatis-

tics at the University of

Albany School of Pub-

lic Health, Dr Eidson began her career as an Epi-

demic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer, working at

the National Cancer Institute in the CDC. She moved

on to New Mexico where she started as an Environ-

mental Epidemiologist, and then a year later be-

came the State Public Health Veterinarian for New

Mexico, where she served for more than 10 years in

addition to holding an appointment as a Clinical As-

sociate in the Department of Family and Community

Medicine of the University of New Mexico School of

Medicine. In 1997, Dr Eidson moved to New York to

become the State Public Health Veterinarian and

Director of the Zoonoses Program for over 10 years

before assuming the Directorship of the NY State

Department of Health Applied Epidemiology Partner-

ship. She assumed her current position as State

Epidemiologist last year.

Along the way, Dr Eidson has authored nearly 100

articles and book chapters that span the areas of

interest to ACVPM and demonstrated a keen atten-

tion to public health problems in: food safety,

plague, Hantavirus, rabies, psittacosis, West Nile

Virus, surveillance informatics, and disaster prepar-

edness. Examples of her work include the original

and updated “Compendium of chlamydiosis

(psittacosis) control”. She helped co-author a three-

part series on the “Recommendations of a national

working group on prevention and control of rabies in

the United States” and

“Dead crow densities

and human cases of

West Nile virus, New

York State, 2000” and

“Towards A National

Infectious Disease In-

formation Infrastruc-

ture: A Case Study in

West Nile Virus and

Botulism''. She led an

investigation in Eosino-

philia-myalgia syn-

drome related to food

products containing L-

tryptophan. Her publications were often supported

by the efforts of her graduate students, which num-

bered more than 60 and who surely represent her

investment in the future of veterinary public health.

Dr Eidson served as a reviewer for journals that in-

clude Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Interna-

tional Journal of Health Geographics among others.

Like many distinguished personages, Dr Eidson

found time throughout her career for several profes-

sional and community services. Early in her career

she served a tour in the US Public Health Service.

She served on 6 University of Albany committees

including as the chair of the faculty contract renewal

committee. Dr Eidson was the founding member

and President of the organization “Families with

Children from China” during her time in New Mexi-

co, and is currently serving as President of a similar

group “Families with Children from Asia” in New

York. She has served 8 professional associations in

a variety of leadership positions, including President

of the American Association of Public Health Veteri-

narians, President of the National Association of

State Public Health Veterinarians and President of

the Epidemiology Specialty of the ACVPM. Congratu-

lations and thanks to Dr. Eidson for the many contri-

butions she has made to veterinary public health

during her distinguished career.

5

A trade associa-

tion for egg pro-

ducers and an ani-

mal welfare advo-

cacy organization

will lobby for intro-

duction of a feder-

al law that would

require more room

for most egg-laying

hens and cage en-

richment for those

birds.

In the agreement, the United Egg Producers (UEP)

and the Humane Society of the United States

(HSUS) will also push for provisions that would re-

quire that euthanasia of egg-laying hens follow

AVMA guidelines, require housing-related labels on

egg cartons, set limits on ammonia concentrations

in henhouses, and prohibit feed or water withdrawal

to extend laying. The standards would apply to

about 280 million hens.

The organizations jointly announced their agree-

ment July 7, before any legislation was drafted or

any members of Congress had agreed to sponsor

such a bill. But the joint statement indicates the or-

ganizations agree that the legislation should include

a requirement that producers give each egg-laying

hen at least 124 square inches of floor space and

that the provisions be phased in within 18 years of

the legislation's passage. The United Egg Producers'

Certified program currently calls for 67 to 86 square

inches of useable space per hen in cage-based pro-

duction, and those standards have been adopted by

most of the industry. The joint press release indi-

cates about 50 million other hens live in about 48

square inches of space per bird.

Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the HSUS,

said his organization and the UEP developed out-

lines for the legislation through weeks of debate

and negotiation. "We certainly consulted our scien-

tists on staff and some outside folks as we deliber-

ated," Pacelle said.

"But we kind of

knew what the

basic framework

was, and our view

is that the birds

should have more

space in order to

engage in more

natural and nor-

mal behaviors."

Gene Gregory,

president and CEO of the UEP, said the HSUS had

an ongoing campaign to use ballot initiatives to

make egg producers switch to cage-free housing

systems, which his organization has contended

would be unsustainable for the egg industry and not

necessarily better for the hens. However, the UEP

could not sustain the expense of fighting that cam-

paign in all states that allow ballot initiatives, and

the campaign risked creation of a patchwork of

standards that would interrupt commerce, he said.

Despite the agreement in July, the HSUS and UEP

retained areas on their websites explaining their op-

posing positions. The HSUS asserted that the UEP

gives welfare certifications to egg producers who

keep hens in abusive conditions. The UEP accused

the HSUS of pursuing an agenda that could harm

animals and humans.

The recent agreement led the HSUS to suspend bal-

lot campaigns in Oregon and Washington, both of

which were intended to phase out cage-based hous-

ing systems. Since the introduction of those initia-

tives, Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire and Ore-

gon Gov. John Kitzhaber had signed into law bills

that will, through 2026, phase in requirements that

eggs and egg products produced and sold in their

states come from hens in housing that meets Ameri-

can Humane Association standards for enriched col-

ony housing. The ballot campaigns continued after

the Washington bill was signed May 10 and the Ore-

gon bill was signed June 17. By Greg Cima, JAVMA

6

Mission Statement: To promote

the science and art of public

health, epidemiology, and pre-

ventive medicine by providing

an expert forum for the discus-

sion of public health issues of

importance to the veterinary

profession and the development of professional

recommendations and public health resolutions.

Vision Statement: To be the foremost organization

for the communication, cooperation, and collabora-

tion of all public health veterinarians and other pub-

lic health professionals and to serve as a coalition

to promote changes in public health policy that re-

sult in improved human and animal health.

Values Statement: Advocacy , Service, Leadership,

Mentorship, Relevance, and Collegiality.

Goals/Strategies:

Goal 1: Be recognized as the ‘umbrella’ organiza-

tion in the United States for veterinarians working

in or who have an interest in public health.

1. Establish (or support existing) student organiza-

tions at schools of veterinary medicine and pub-

lic health that have a focus on veterinary public

health and the value of veterinarians working in

public health. Seek to enroll student members

as active members following graduation.

2. Develop and publish at least one position state-

ment on a public health issue annually.

3. Recruit and nominate AAPHV members to indi-

vidual positions of influence within the Ameri-

can Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and

other organizations of significance to public

health.

4. Seek formal representation

for AAPHV on advisory commit-

tees and other groups that re-

quire the perspective of veteri-

narians working in public health.

5. Grow to include enough

members of AAPHV who are also members of

the AVMA to obtain a seat in the AVMA House of

Delegates.

6. Help to foster communication and coordination

among other groups / organizations with public

health interests through coalition-type activities.

Goal 2: Advocate for the value of veterinarians in

public health, within the veterinary community and

to the public health community as a whole.

1. Work to ensure that veterinarians have access

to the same public health training and employ-

ment opportunities as other biomedical scien-

tists.

2. Seek parity of compensation and employment

incentives among all public health professionals

of equivalent experience and training.

3. Support the appropriation of sufficient re-

sources to ensure a robust and effective public

health system in the United States.

4. Educate veterinarians, public health profession-

als, and the public about the contributions of

veterinarians in public health.

5. Recognize public health as a veterinary disci-

pline advocating curriculum development, and

funding and support for positions, training, and

loan forgiveness.

Continued on next page

7

Continued from previous page

Goal 3: Facilitate the career develop-

ment and progression of veterinarians

in public health, from initial veterinary

training through retirement.

1. Develop a mentoring program to

match established veterinarians

working in public health with other

veterinarians and students inter-

ested in public health.

2. Provide scholarships for veterinary

students considering careers in

public health.

3. Develop and provide educational

materials and other resources for

students.

4. Regularly sponsor a public health

oriented and relevant conference

session and support the develop-

ment of public health-related con-

tinuing education for all members.

Goal 4: Enhance outreach and com-

munication to membership to ensure

all receive benefit of being a part of

AAPHV.

1. Provide a newsletter to communi-

cate regularly with membership

and to provide updates on the ac-

tivities of the Board of Directors.

2. Maintain an Internet discussion

group for interactive member com-

munication.

3. Regularly provide announcements

and other critical information to

members through electronic mail

messages, the AAPHV website, and

other modalities.

4. Establish various Workgroups and

other volunteer opportunities that

aid the growth of the organization

for members to engage in; ensure

both short-term and long-term time

commitments.

Provided by Tracy S. DuVernoy

President, AAPHV

ACVPM

Dues!

Email notices will be

sent out this month

$125 for ACVPM board

recertification

$155 for Epidemiology

Specialty

Please update your

contact information on

the ACVPM.ORG

website

Ever wondered how to safely and hu-

manely euthanize a bat? The Michigan

Rabies Working Group (2008) has a

nice document for bat euthanasia at:

http://michigan.gov/documents/

emergingdiseases/

Humane_Euthanasia_of_Bats-

Final_244979_7.pdf

“Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous de-

light, or any experience that reveals the human spirit."

--E.E. Cummings, American poet

8

Ecology and Evolution of Infectious

Diseases (EEID)

As a collaborative interagency effort,

the National Institute of Food and Agri-

culture (NIFA) of the U.S. Department

of Agriculture (USDA), the National Sci-

ence Foundation (NSF), the National

Institutes of Health (NIH), and the U.K.

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences

Research Council (BBSRC) request ap-

plications for the Ecology and Evolu-

tion of Infectious Diseases (EEID) Pro-

gram for fiscal year (FY) 2012. The

amount available for support of this

program in FY 2012 will be approxi-

mately $15 million, pending availabil-

ity of funds.

Full Proposal Deadline is December 7,

2011 (5 p.m. proposer’s local time),

and the 1st Wednesday in December

in subsequent years. No letter of in-

tent is solicited.

For the entire Program Announcement,

including submission and contact in-

formation, click on the link labeled

“Ecology Evolution of Infectious Dis-

eases FY 2012.” http://www.nsf.gov/

publications/pub_summ.jsp?

ods_key=nsf11580 Applications must

be submitted through NSF’s FastLane.

The Ecology and Evolution of Infec-

tious Diseases program supports re-

search on the ecological, evolutionary,

and socio-ecological principles and

processes that regulate the transmis-

sion dynamics of infectious diseases.

For questions, contact any of the fol-

lowing 2012 Program Directors:

Peter Johnson, National Program

Leader, USDA/NIFA, telephone: (202)

401-1896, email:

pjohnson@nifa.usda.gov

Samuel M. Scheiner, Program Direc-

tor, NSF/BIO, telephone: (703) 292-

7175, email: sscheine@nsf.gov

Christine Jessup, Program Director,

NIH/FIC, telephone: (301) 496-9676,

fax: (301) 402-0779, email:

christine.jessup@nih.gov

Michael Lesser, Program Director,

NSF/GEO, telephone: (703) 292-

8143, email: mlesser@nsf.gov

Deborah Winslow, Program Director,

NSF/SBE, telephone: (703) 292-7315,

email: dwinslow@nsf.gov

Irene Eckstrand, Program Director,

NIH/NIGMS, telephone: (301) 594-

0943, email: eckstrai@nigms.nih.gov

Sadhana Sharma, Strategy and Policy

Manager-Animal Health, BBSRC, tele-

phone: 44 1793-413099, email:

sadhana.sharma@bbsrc.ac.uk

ACVPM Diplomate Dr.

Philip Kass

Cited in article from

September 1 edition

of JAVMA

Clinical implications of

high liver enzyme

activities in

hospitalized neonatal

foals

Conclusions and

Clinical Relevance:

Results suggest that

high liver enzyme

activities were

common in sick

neonatal foals,

especially foals with

sepsis. Foals with

high liver enzyme

activities were more

likely to be septic, and

septic foals were less

likely to survive than

were foals without

sepsis. However, high

liver enzyme activities

alone were not a

useful negative

prognostic indicator

“Freedom is man's capacity to take a hand in his own development. It is our

capacity to mold ourselves."

--Rollo May, American psychologist

“Get action. Seize the moment. Man was never intended to become an oyster."

--Theodore Roosevelt, 26th U.S. president

9

Dr. Kathrine Feldman, DVM, MPH Baltimore, MD

Dr. Emi Saito, DVM, MSPH Ft Collins, CO

Dorman M. Warren

Dr. Warren (TEX '70), 77, Granbury, Texas, died Oct.

23, 2010. A small animal veterinarian, he owned a

practice in Duncanville, Texas, prior to retirement in

1998. Earlier in his career, Dr. Warren served in the

Army Veterinary Corps, retiring as a major in 1978.

He was also an Air Force veteran of the Vietnam

War, attaining the rank of captain.

A diplomate of the American College of Veterinary

Preventive Medicine, Dr. Warren served as an AVMA

Congressional Science Fellow from 1996-1997.

From 1997-1998, he was a consultant to the re-

search staff at the Stanford University School of

Medicine. Dr. Warren was also active in public

health, working for the health departments of the

cities of Duncanville and Garland, Texas. He was a

member of the Duncanville Lions Club and a past

member of the city council.

Dr. Warren is survived by his wife, Gilda; a daughter;

and two sons.

Since July, over 100 sick or dead seals have been

reported in Alaska. Signs of illness include hair

loss, sores on the body, face or flippers. In some

cases seals have been weak enough to approach.

An international team of scientists from more than

a dozen agencies and organizations are working to

find out what is causing this situation. The public is

being asked to help in reporting unusual seals.

If you spot an unusual seal in the Bering Strait Re-

gion, contact the Eskimo Walrus Commission at

1-877-277-4392; the Marine Advisory Program at

1-800-478-2202; or NOAA's Alaska Stranding Hot-

line at 1-877-925-7773.

Until further information is available on the cause of

this illness, please take the following precautions if

you come into contact with an ill animal:

1. Do not eat it or feed it to animals

2. Fully cook any meat before eating it

3. Wash your hands thoroughly after contact

4. Wash your equipment, and rinse with a bleach/

water solution

For more information, go to:

http://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/

Sent by:

Louisa Castrodale, DVM, MPH, DACVPM

Alaska Department of Health and Social Services

Division of Public Health, Section of Epidemiology

3601 C St, Suite 540, Anchorage, AK 99503

tel. 907-269-8002

fax 907-563-7868

cell 907-444-6517

“Computers are useless. They can only give you answers."

--Pablo Picasso, Spanish artist

10

Dr. Kathrine Feldman, DVM, MPH Baltimore, MD

Dr. Emi Saito, DVM, MSPH Ft Collins, CO

The Partnership for Food Protection and the Food

and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Au-

gust 1 the launch of the Pet Event Tracking Network

(PETNet). PETNet is a secure, web based infor-

mation exchange system that will allow FDA and

Federal and State Agencies to share initial infor-

mation about pet-food related incidents, such as

illness associated with the consumption of pet food

or pet food product defects. PETNet’s voluntary in-

formation exchange, surveillance and alert system

is designed to provide a real-time mechanism for

sharing information about emerging pet food relat-

ed illnesses and product defects.

The system will be accessible to PETNet members,

who are Federal, State, and Territorial government

officials responsible for the regulation of pet food

products and the investigation of disease outbreaks

in companion animals. Members will enter

“events” into the system when they have identified

a trend or a suspicious incident associated with pet

food products, as well as pet food product defects

within their own jurisdiction that should be commu-

nicated to their regulatory counterparts. Once en-

tered on the standardized form, the information will

be immediately available to all other PETNet mem-

bers. This will enable PETNet members to track the

emergence of such data and to evaluate the need

for action within individual jurisdictions.

PETNet grew out of discussions held with State and

federal government public health officials at an Au-

gust 2008, FDA sponsored meeting, “Gateway to

Food Protection” (also known as the 2008 “50

State” meeting). Following the meeting, the Part-

nership for Food Protection was established by the

FDA. The purpose of the Partnership is to bring fed-

eral, state, local, territorial and tribal representa-

tives with expertise in food, feed, epidemiology, la-

boratory, animal health, environment and public

health together to develop an Integrated Food Safe-

ty System.

The concept for PETNet was developed in response

to the 2007 melamine pet food recall. One difficul-

ty faced by FDA and FDA’s State regulatory partners

during the melamine incident was the timely shar-

ing of information between FDA and the States and

among the States themselves. PETNet was devel-

oped with input from the States and other Federal

agency partners to enable the sharing of infor-

mation between Federal and State officials about

instances of foodborne illness in companion ani-

mals, as well as product defects that may lead to

such outbreaks.

PETNet is currently made up of over 200 represent-

atives from 4 Federal agencies, all 50 states, Puer-

to Rico and the District of Columbia.

Sent by Dr. Tracy DuVernoy

Asa B. Childers Jr.

Dr. Childers (TEX ′60), 75, Bryan, Texas, died July

21, 2011. He was a member of the veterinary facul-

ty at Texas A&M University for 37 years, retiring as

associate professor emeritus of veterinary integra-

tive biosciences. Dr. Childers was a diplomate of

the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medi-

cine.

Dr. Childers is survived by his wife, Barbara; a son;

and two daughters. Memorials may be made to First

Baptist Church, 3100 Cambridge Drive, Bryan, TX

77802; Texas A&M Foundation (in support of the

Corps of Cadets), 401 George Bush Drive, College

Station, TX 77840; or Baptist Student Ministry, Tex-

as A&M University, 203 College Main, College Sta-

tion, TX 77840.

JAVMA

11

Animals, Diseases, and Hu-

man Health: Shaping Our

Lives Now and in the Future

Published by Praeger and ed-

ited by Radford Davis, DVM,

MPH, DACVPM

The book focuses on the One

Health movement, which

strives to expand interdiscipli-

nary collaborations and com-

munications in all aspects of

health care for humans and animals worldwide.

This book is written by leading experts in their fields

and is centered around topics that are most rele-

vant to the overlap and connection of animal and

human health. Topics covered include One Health,

human health concerns derived from animals such

as allergies and dog bites, global concerns of

emerging diseases and pandemics, immunocom-

promised pet owners, bioengineering, wildlife smug-

gling, animal abuse, and common zoonoses from

popular household pets. Social issues—such as the

connection between animal abuse and human vio-

lence—are also examined.

Caring for Family Pets: Choos-

ing and Keeping our Compan-

ion Animals Healthy

Published by Praeger and edit-

ed by Radford Davis, DVM,

MPH, DACVPM

How long do large exotic birds

live? When should a kitten be

socialized and introduced to

children or other pets? What

is the first thing to do if your

dog or cat is seriously injured? These are the kinds

of questions that prospective pet owners—or current

pet owners—should be able to answer.

Pets are extremely popular in the United States.

According to a recent survey, one third of American

homes contain one or more cats; almost 40 percent

of U.S. households include at least one dog. Pets

serve as cherished companions for everyone from

young children to senior citizens. However, there

are responsibilities and risks involved with pet own-

er

Dr. George Moore (October 15)

Antitumor effects of deracoxib treatment in 26 dogs

with transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary blad-

der

Conclusions and Clinical Relevance: Results indi-

cated that deracoxib was generally well tolerated by

dogs and had antitumor activity against transitional

cell carcinoma.

Dr. Philip Kass (October 15)

Penetrating injuries to the frog (cuneus ungulae)

and collateral sulci of the foot in equids: 63 cases

(1998-2008)

Conclusions and Clinical Relevance: Results sug-

gested that penetrating injuries located centrally in

the foot of equids without involvement of a synovial

structure have a favorable prognosis, especially if

managed early. Penetration of a synovial structure

provided a poor prognosis.

Dr. Greg Habing (November 1)

Stopping rules in veterinary randomized controlled

trials

Conclusions and Clinical Relevance: Whether in

companion animal or agricultural settings, stopping

rules could be used to alleviate animal welfare con-

cerns, provide assurances to animal owners, and

improve adherence to veterinary research ethics.

More ACVPM Diplomates Publishing in JAVMA!

12

I am pleased to share with you the

CDC Framework for Preventing Infec-

tious Diseases: Sustaining the Essen-

tials and Innovating for the Future (ID

Framework). The document was pre-

pared by CDC’s Office of Infectious

Diseases and Infectious Disease Na-

tional Centers, along with expert ad-

vice and assistance from other CDC

organizational units, public and private

sector experts, and partner organiza-

tions.

CDC’s ID Framework is designed to

provide a roadmap for improving our

ability to prevent infectious diseases

through a strengthened, adaptable,

and multi-purpose U.S. public health

system, recognizing the realities of the

current fiscal climate as well as to-

day’s changing public health and

healthcare environments. While its

primary purpose is to guide CDC’s in-

fectious disease activities, the docu-

ment also aims to advance existing

and new partnerships, technologic and

scientific developments, and other in-

novations and opportunities in our col-

lective efforts to prevent and control

infectious diseases.

Today’s infectious disease challenges

are broader and more complex than

they were in 1998, when CDC last is-

sued a comprehensive plan to guide

national efforts to prevent and control

emerging infectious threats. While our

changing, globalized world has provid-

ed increased opportunities for emer-

gence and spread of infectious diseas-

es, it has also brought significant ad-

vances toward their control. The ID

Framework takes into account many of

the scientific, demographic, technolog-

ical, and economic developments cur-

rently modifying efforts to protect pub-

lic health, challenging us to re-think

our processes and strategies and find

new ways to prevent disease and im-

prove health.

The ID Framework is available on the

CDC Office of Infectious Diseases web-

site at:

http://www.cdc.gov/oid/framework.html.

We encourage you to share the frame-

work with your membership. We rec-

ognize the hard work of many of our

partners in recognizing, understand-

ing, and preventing the spread of in-

fectious diseases in the U.S. and glob-

ally. We hope CDC’s ID Framework will

be of practical value as you continue

to support these shared goals.

If you have any questions regarding

CDC’s ID Framework or CDC’s efforts

to protect the public from infectious

diseases and prevent their spread in

the U.S. and globally, please let me

know.

Sincerely,

Beth P. Bell, MD, MPH

Director, National Center for Emerging

and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases

404-639-3967

bbell@cdc.gov

ACVPM Diplomate Dr.

James Thompson

Cited in article from

September 1 edition of

JAVMA

Effects of early

pregnancy diagnosis by

palpation per rectum

on pregnancy loss in

dairy cattle

Conclusions and

Clinical Relevance:

Pregnancy diagnosis

via 1 or 2 fetal

membrane slips

performed during

palpation per rectum in

early gestation did not

increase pregnancy

loss in dairy cattle

“All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous unpremeditated act without

the benefit of experience."

--Henry Miller, American novelist and painter

13

Dr. Kathrine Feldman, DVM, MPH Baltimore, MD

Dr. Emi Saito, DVM, MSPH Ft Collins, CO

Federal agriculture authori-

ties want to require identifica-

tion and veterinary inspection

for nearly all livestock that

cross state lines. In a pro-

posal announced August 9

and published August 11 in

the Federal Register, the De-

partment of Agriculture's Ani-

mal and Plant Health Inspec-

tion Service (APHIS) indicated the

new rules would require that state and tribal gov-

ernments collect information on livestock move-

ments across their boundaries. That information

would be used to trace the origins and movements

of those animals during disease outbreaks.

Facilities such as stockyards and livestock markets

would also need to keep records of veterinary in-

spections for at least five years. APHIS is, through

November 9, seeking comments on the plan, which

is intended to decrease the time and cost associat-

ed with investigating animal disease outbreaks. The

agency will respond to the comments in a final rule

12 to 15 months after the comment period closes,

an APHIS spokeswoman said.

To view or comment on the proposal, go to

www.regulations.gov and search for APHIS-2009-

0091.

APHIS officials had indicated during a July 19 ses-

sion at the 2011 AVMA Annual Convention that a

framework is coming together to trace the origins of

food animals during disease outbreaks in the Unit-

ed States. In the session on the future of traceabil-

ity, Dr. John R. Clifford, deputy administrator for

APHIS Veterinary Services, said the cattle industry

would be the highest priority for the new system,

because the commercial swine and poultry indus-

tries already have good tracing abilities. "We're

looking at getting more cattle ID with this," Dr.

Clifford said. "We do not have to have

a final rule in place to get IDs

in cattle's ears."

The agency's proposal simi-

larly expresses particular con-

cern about "inadequacies in

disease tracing capabilities in

the cattle industry" that have

emerged with the success in

eliminating nearly all brucello-

sis cases in the U.S. That success has been met

with a steep decline in the number of cattle identi-

fied through tattoos and eartags, from 10 million

calves in 1988, when only half the states were con-

sidered to be free of the disease, to 3.1 million in

2010, when only the area around Yellowstone Na-

tional Park was known to contain reservoirs of the

disease. "As a result of decreasing levels of official

identification in cattle, the time required to conduct

other disease investigations is increasing," the pro-

posed rule states.

"For example, disease investigations for bovine tu-

berculosis frequently now exceed 150 days as

USDA and state investigative teams spend substan-

tially more time and money in conducting trace-

backs. The decreased level of official identification

has resulted in an expansion of the scope of investi-

gations to identify suspect and exposed animals,

necessitating the testing of thousands of cattle that

would otherwise not have needed to be tested."

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in an Aug. 9

conference call with news media he is confident the

new system will improve the response to disease

outbreaks, which he thinks could take days or

weeks rather than lengthy periods such as those

needed for bovine tuberculosis investigations. He

also indicated the tracing system could help U.S.

livestock owners market their products while provid-

ing an animal origin tracing system that is flexible

and responsive to producers' needs.

By Greg Cima and Katie Burns, JAVMA

Photo by Greg Cima

14

Dr. Kathrine Feldman, DVM, MPH Baltimore, MD

Dr. Emi Saito, DVM, MSPH Ft Collins, CO

Junior Veterinarian Officer of the

Year: Lieutenant Commander

Christa Hale, Atlanta, for her con-

tributions to the mission of the

PHS and Centers for Disease Con-

trol and Prevention. A 2000 grad-

uate of the University of Tennes-

see, Dr. Hale is training team lead for the CDC's Epi-

demic Intelligence Service program, where she is

responsible for designing the curriculum and imple-

menting training for early-career field epidemiolo-

gists. She recently completed the Preventive Medi-

cine Fellowship with the CDC's Field Epidemiology

and Laboratory Training Program and Systems De-

velopment Branch—Asia & the Americas, where she

served as a veterinary epidemiologist using the one-

health concept internationally, including with pro-

jects in Abu Dhabi, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Jor-

dan.

Veterinary Responder of the Year: The 2010 Arctic

Crossroads Team, comprising Lt. Cmdrs. Mary Anne

Duncan, Atlanta; Kevin Greene, Altamont, N.Y.; Sta-

cy Holzbauer, St. Paul, Minn.; and Wanda Wilson,

Washington, D.C. Drs. Duncan and Holzbauer are

ACVPM Diplomates. The team was honored for its

dedication and service under difficult conditions in

remote areas of Alaska in August and September

2010.

A 1988 graduate of the University

of Tennessee, Dr. Duncan is as-

signed to the Department of

Health and Human Services'

Agency for Toxic Substances and

Disease Registry, where she coor-

dinates a program to assist state health depart-

ments to perform assessments after large-scale

chemical releases. In the aftermath of Hurricane

Katrina, she deployed to Louisiana to gather data

concerning animal emergency response.

A 2002 graduate of Iowa State

University, Dr. Holzbauer serves

as the CDC career epidemiology

field officer at the Minnesota De-

partment of Health. She is a

member of the MDH Incident

Command and general staff, playing an integral role

in the MDH's response to flood events and the

2009 influenza pandemic. Dr. Holzbauer assisted in

developing the Veterinary Deployment Guide for the

PHS Veterinary Professional Advisory Committee.

JAVMA

Oklahoma State University College of Veterinary Medicine Alumni Associa-

tion Distinguished Alumni Award goes to ACVPM Diplomate! Dr. Theresa M. Casey (OKL ‘82) of Belton, Texas, began her veterinary military career in

the Air Force Biomedical Sciences Corps, serving as the chief of environmental health

services at Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma. She was one of the first veterinarians to

enter this new career field. Dr. Casey continued to move through the military ranks and

accomplished many firsts along the way, including her appointment as brigadier gen-

eral in August 2006—making her the first active duty BSC officer and veterinarian to serve as a general

officer. JAVMA

Alzheimer’s Disease—Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Link? The brain damage seen in some cases of Alzheimer's disease could have its roots in an infectious prion-

like disease, such as that seen in bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow) and its human form

[variant] Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), according to an international study published this week in the

Journal Molecular Psychiatry that was led by the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. ProMED

15

Dr. Kathrine Feldman, DVM, MPH Baltimore, MD

Dr. Emi Saito, DVM, MSPH Ft Collins, CO

Part of a series investigating the complex linkages

between human, animal and environmental health:

The Infection Loop in the Huffington Post by Lynne

Peeples.

Dr. Jane C. Burns always takes her vacation in Sep-

tember and October. That's when, she says, there is

a "lull in the action." By action, she means the in-

flux of children with Kawasaki disease that she has

come to expect during summer and winter months.

Similar seasonal patterns are seen in other parts of

the world, but no one has been able to explain why.

Now Burns and her colleagues think they may have

found an important clue -- blowing in the wind. De-

spite 50 years of research, the underlying cause of

Kawasaki, a rare condition that involves the inflam-

mation of blood vessels, remains unknown.

The interdisciplinary team of doctors and climatolo-

gists has linked large-scale wind patterns originat-

ing in central Asia to fluctuations in cases of the se-

rious and sometimes fatal disease in Japan, San

Diego and Hawaii. Their findings, detailed in the

journal Nature's Scientific Reports on Thursday,

suggest that when these particular wind currents

reverse -- sweeping in from the south, in the case of

Japan -- the number of Kawasaki cases drop. A

close look at data

from these three re-

gions found no asso-

ciations with other

environmental fac-

tors such as precipi-

tation, temperature

or dew point.

"If the winds blow in

one direction, there

is Kawasaki; if winds

blow in the other,

there is no Kawasa-

ki. It's very dramatic." says Burns, a professor of pe-

diatrics and director of the Kawasaki Disease Re-

search Center at the University of California, San

Diego and Rady Children's Hospital.

Researchers are now looking at dust samples col-

lected from winds over Japan in hopes of determin-

ing what virus, bacteria, fungi or other contagion --

live or inert -- ultimately triggers Kawasaki disease.

And until that mystery is solved, no one can be cer-

tain of the wind's true role.

If the Kawasaki agent does, in fact, traverse great

distances by wind, it would be the first known hu-

man infectious disease agent to do so. Dust plumes

have been known to travel internationally. And

some pathogens of plants and animals such as Eu-

ropean livestock Foot and Mouth Disease and Afri-

can Swine Fever can blow around, but only over rel-

atively short distances, said Guy Hendrickx, manag-

ing director of Avia-GIS, a Belgian company special-

izing in spatial information for health and agricul-

ture research. His own research has found that in-

sects carrying Bluetongue virus will fly with the wind

over hundreds of miles -- yet still not at the same

high altitude and long distance suggested in the

new Kawasaki research.

Continued on page 17

16

10th Annual Conference

International Society for

Disease Surveillance

Atlanta, GA

December 6-8, 2011

Building the Future of

Public Health Surveil-

lance

Pre-Conference Work-

shop: Dec 6

Conference: Dec 7-8

Sheraton Atlanta Hotel,

165 Courtland Street NE,

Atlanta, GA

The ISDS proudly cele-

brates its 10th annual

conference dedicated to

the advancement of the

technology, research,

and practice of public

health surveillance. This

unique gathering brings

together a community of

researchers and practi-

tioners focused on moni-

toring, understanding,

and improving population

health. The conference

presents scientific work

at the juncture of innova-

tive analytical tech-

niques, progressive pub-

lic health practice, and

cutting edge informatics

to support a timely, accu-

rate, and informed re-

sponse to emerging dis-

ease outbreaks and oth-

er health threats. Come

help us evaluate where

we have been, explore

where we are, and envi-

sion what can be as we

work together to build

the future of public

health surveillance.

http://www.syndromic.or

g/annual-

conference/2011

15th International Con-

ference on Infectious

Diseases (ICID)

Bangkok, Thailand

June 13-16, 2012

The 15th ICID will be a

chance for ongoing col-

laborative efforts to pre-

sent and share their ex-

periences fighting infec-

tious diseases. To com-

memorate the 30th year

of our Society we are

keen to provide at-

tendees with an out-

standing scientific pro-

gram that will run the

spectrum from cutting

edge research with clini-

cal implications, to state

of the art practices in in-

fectious diseases by a

truly international faculty

composed of world lead-

ers in their areas. More

information available at

http://www.isid.org/icid/

.

PLENARY SPEAKERS:

Dr. Duane J. Gubler ~

The Future of Dengue

Dr. Ching-Lung Lai ~

Treating Hepatitis B in

2012

Dr. Sharon Lewin ~ Cur-

ing HIV

Dr. Didier Pittet ~ Infec-

tion Control

13th Conference of the

International Society for

Veterinary Epidemiology

and Economics (ISVEE

XIII)

Maastricht, Netherlands

August 20-24, 2012

Motto of the conference

will be: Building Bridges

– Crossing Borders. In

conjunction with the IS-

VEE 13 Conference, the

organizing committee

wants to offer a limited

number of high quality

pre- and post-Conference

courses to ISVEE 13 par-

ticipants. Pre- and post-

conference courses will

take place in the city of

Ghent in Belgium (170

km from Maastricht).

Please download the

third Newsletter:

http://www.isvee13.org/

attach-

ments/article/12/ISVEE

13%20NEWSLETTER%20

No%203x.pdf

Please also visit the web-

site of ISVEE 13 for de-

tailed information on oth-

er items:

http://www.isvee13.org/

ACVPM Diplomate Dr.

John Huntley

Receives

AVMA Public Service

Award

For contributions to

public health and

regulatory veterinary

medicine

Dr. Huntley is the

Department of

Agriculture’s Veterinary

Services area

veterinarian in charge

for Washington State,

Alaska, Hawaii, Guam,

American Samoa, and

the Northern Mariana

Islands. He has served

on the AVMA Council

on Public Health and

Regulatory Veterinary

Medicine, AVMA Food

Safety Advisory

Committee, and the

executive board of the

United States Animal

Health Association

17

Continued from page 15

"Traveling with the aid of tropospheric

winds should not be a problem for fun-

gi, bacteria or even small cryptogams

or other animals," says Jesus Munoz

Fuente, a scientist at Real Jardin Bo-

tanico in Spain, suggesting the crea-

tures can survive the flight by protect-

ing their DNA from UV rays with other

binding substances -- they can even

survive with almost no water.

Some experts, however, are more

skeptical. "I have never heard of such

a close association between long-

distance dispersal over oceans and

outbreak of a human disease," says

Christopher Mundt, a professor of

plant pathology at Oregon State Uni-

versity. "This is more likely to happen

with plant pathogens, but even there it

seems to be somewhat rare and not

something that happens on a regular

basis." The correlations, he says, may

have nothing to do with an agent being

transported on the wind, but rather to

something else associated with wind

patterns.

Reported cases of Kawasaki disease

are increasingly common in many

parts of the world, particularly in Ja-

pan, where one out of 185 children

will develop the disease before age

10. More than 12,000 cases have

been reported in the country over the

last year. Burns has also seen rising

numbers in her San Diego clinic, alt-

hough a growing awareness of the dis-

ease may be partially responsible.

About 4,000 cases are reported in the

U.S. each year, according to the Ameri-

can Heart Association.

In general, the disease is less recog-

nizable outside of Japan and often

mistaken for an inconsequential viral

infection. Symptoms typically disap-

pear on their own within a couple

weeks. If not treated early, however,

Kawasaki can cause irreversible heart

damage. Burns recommends that par-

ents consult a pediatrician if their

child's fever lasts for at least five days

and is accompanied by a rash, red

eyes and red lips.

"This is a very insidious disease," says

Burns. "The heart damage is silent.

You have no way to know just looking

at the child, but then in the child's 20s

or 30s, they may present with a heart

attack due to damage to arteries that

happened during childhood."

In fact, she suggests that Kawasaki

might be behind a number of the trag-

ic heart-related deaths of young ath-

letes. Only children with a genetic pre-

disposition will get the disease, adds

Burns, noting that Asian and African

Americans have an increased suscep-

tibility compared to other groups.

The ability to predict potential out-

breaks of disease based on wind pat-

terns, even without knowing nature of

agent, has the potential to save lives,

suggests Xavier Rodo, director of the

Institut Catala de Ciencies del Clima in

Catalunya, Spain, and lead author on

the new paper.

Still, the lack of a known cause for the

disease continues to be a major obsta-

cle in disease prevention and treat-

ment.

ACVPM Diplomate Dr.

Craig Carter

Receives

Karl F. Meyer-James H.

Steele Gold Headed

Cane Award

For the advancement

of human health

through veterinary

epidemiology and

public health

Dr. Carter spent 24

years at Texas A&M

University, most

recently as head of

diagnostic

epidemiology and

informatics at the

veterinary diagnostic

laboratory. He joined

the University of

Kentucky as an

epidemiology

professor and later

became director of the

veterinary diagnostic

laboratory.

18

Dr. Kathrine Feldman, DVM, MPH Baltimore, MD

Dr. Emi Saito, DVM, MSPH Ft Collins, CO

Inadequate poultry

immunization pro-

grams may cause

higher mutations

rates in the bird flu

virus, rendering the

vaccine ineffective

and increasing the

threat of cross-

species transmission.

The H5N1 Type A in-

fluenza, commonly

known as bird flu, is mutating faster in countries

that have been implementing wide-scale, but incom-

plete, vaccinations of poultry, according to a report

published online in Vaccine (October 12).The genet-

ic changes accrued by the viruses rendered the vac-

cinations ineffective, and increased the risk that the

virus could jump to humans.

That spotty vaccination campaigns seem “to favor

viral mutation, has been suspected for a long time,

but this is the first study which is providing hard evi-

dence for it,” Marisa Peyre, a researcher with the

French Agricultural Research Center for Internation-

al Development who was not involved in the re-

search, said in an email.

Bird flu has plagued poultry farmers for years, wip-

ing out entire stocks, and occasionally jumping to

the farmers themselves. In 2006, for example, the

disease caused 79 human deaths worldwide. That

same year, Egypt implemented wide-scale immun-

ization programs against the virus, treating millions

of farmed poultry with an H5N1 vaccine. Recent

news, however, suggested that such programs were

failing, with regular reports of bird and human infec-

tions. But it was unclear whether the failure was

“caused by the vaccine cold-chain being broken”—

thus rendering the vaccine ineffective—or if the vi-

rus was changing in a way that allowed it to infect

even immunized animals, said first author Giovanni

Cattoli, a veterinary

scientist at the Isti-

tuto Zooprofilattico

Sperimentale delle

Venezie in Italy.

So Cattoli and col-

leagues, sequenced

flu samples collected

between 2006

and2010 in countries

that had vaccinated

their poultry (Egypt

and Indonesia), and compared the sequences to

samples from countries that had no immunization

programs in place (Nigeria, Turkey, Thailand). The

results showed that the viruses circulating in coun-

tries with mass vaccination efforts were evolving

faster, and had become genetically distinct from the

virus that the vaccine was designed to combat.

“There are sharp increases in genetic diversity of

the virus,” said Cattoli.

Cattoli suspects that the problem stems from the

way the vaccine was administered. Just as antibi-

otic-resistant strains of bacteria arise when antibiot-

ics are not taken properly, evolution rates were like-

ly to be higher in areas were the vaccination was

incomplete, covering only a fraction of the chicken

population. In addition, vaccination can result in

partial immunity if the vaccine is left out in the sun

where its components decay, or if follow-up booster

shots are not administered. In such cases, the

chicken may not mount a strong enough immune

reaction to fight the live virus. Most likely, said Cat-

toli, the virus moved from an unvaccinated chicken

to one that was partially immunized, to one that

hadn’t been infected or vaccinated at all. “All of

this continuous movement among different levels of

immunity is likely to drive and force the evolution of

the virus,” he said.

Continued on next page

19

Dr. Kathrine Feldman, DVM, MPH Baltimore, MD

Dr. Emi Saito, DVM, MSPH Ft Collins, CO

Continued from previous page

Indeed, when Peyre investigated the vaccination

practices in Egypt, she found that in some areas as

little as 30 percent of the vaccinated bird popula-

tion was protected from infection. In addition to the

risk this poses to the poultry industry, a faster-

evolving virus increases “the threat of emergence of

a novel strain which might be one day be more spe-

cific to human infection,” said Peyre.

Cattoli’s study, she said, “emphasizes the critical

needs for improved surveillance strategies and field

protocols” in these countries, which can be both

labor intensive and expensive. For countries looking

for a quick fix, vaccination “is not the simplest way,”

Catolli agreed. Although there are no easy alterna-

tives, he said, it is clear that inadequate vaccination

campaign can wreak more harm than good.

By Edyta Zielinska, Scientist-Daily 24 Oct 11

The 1918 influenza

was circulating si-

lently before it began

killing millions of

people in just a year

and a half.

The “Spanish” influ-

enza was circulating

in the population

months before it

peaked in the fall of

1918, according to a

study published today (September 19) in the Pro-

ceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The

earlier cases could help reveal the flu’s geographic

origin and how it evolved to be so infectious.

“They’ve done a really outstanding piece of work,”

said Robert Webster, a virologist at St. Jude Chil-

dren’s Research Hospital, who was not involved in

the study. “This virus became extremely pathogenic

in young men at about the time of the end of World

War I,” and in order to do so it had to evolve to be

more transmissible. “This paper shows how some

of the changes occurred,” he added.

The 1918 influenza, which is thought to have

evolved from an avian flu, began infecting young

soldiers in September of 1918 and ultimately killed

roughly 50 million

people worldwide,

said Jeffery

Taubenberger, a viral

pathologist at the

National Institute of

Allergy and Infectious

Diseases. While

some theories sug-

gest the virus spread

from water fowl to

pigs on farms in the

Midwest United

States, where it emerged in its more deadly incar-

nation, no one knows for sure where the virus came

from and how it became so virulent.

To find out, Taubenberger and his colleagues ana-

lyzed viral RNA from 68autopsy samples of army

recruits who had died in the months before and dur-

ing the peak of the 1918 epidemic. Four of those

samples came from the months of May to August,

up to four months before the death toll started ex-

ploding. Consistent with later samples, early victims

usually died because of pneumonia that took hold

after being infected with the flu virus. The later cas-

es didn’t seem to cause more severe disease than

earlier ones.

Continued on next page

20

Dr. Kathrine Feldman, DVM, MPH Baltimore, MD

Dr. Emi Saito, DVM, MSPH Ft Collins, CO

But the researchers also found some key changes

between the viruses isolated from earlier flu victims

and those who died in the heat of the epidemic.

Namely, in earlier cases, the hemagluttinin binding

receptor, which helps the virus get a foothold in the

body, was slightly more similar to that found in avi-

an flu, while later cases showed a better fit with hu-

man hemagluttinin. Though the newer form of the

receptor didn’t seem to make the disease replicate

any more quickly, “one possibility is that the form

that predominates in the later fall might have been

more transmissible,”Taubenberger said.

The findings also show that the flu was circulating

earlier than previously documented. In addition, the

study offers a snapshot of how the virus was evolv-

ing, and further analyses may reveal what caused it

to be so deadly.

Understanding what made this historic scourge so

deadly could aid in designing treatments for mod-

ern flu, because all the flu pandemics that have oc-

curred since are descendants of the 1918 version,

Taubenberger said.

To get a more complete picture, Webster added, “it

would be wonderful if they could obtain earlier clini-

cal material for analysis to determine the precur-

sors a little bit more about where these viruses

came from.”

Z-M Sheng et al., “Autopsy series of 68 cases dying

before and during the 1918 influenza pandemic

peak,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sci-

ences, doi/10.1073/pnas.1111179108,2011.

By Tia Ghose, Scientist-Daily, 20 Sep 11

The Veterinary Public Health Special Primary Inter-

est Group (SPIG) of the APHA had a very informative

and productive meeting at the APHA convention in

DC this year. One of the many highlights was a dis-

cussion on the role of antibiotics in livestock feeds.

The discussions included an introduction from a

previous Director of the FDA's CVM, a briefing from

the AVMAs view, and also from the Pew Commis-

sion. Additionally several topics were discussed to

potentially pursue in the upcoming years.

One potential topic is the public health aspects of

large modern livestock farms. We are also solicit-

ing formal assessments on our proposal for com-

munities to adopt trap-neuter-vaccinate-release as

the preferred management practice for community

cats (wherever feasible), the benefits of pet thera-

py, the public health aspects of fish farms, and the

effect of climate change on animal agriculture Any-

one interested is encouraged to contact the current

Chair, Bill Courtney at billcourt1@aol.com.

Thank you!

Bill Courtney, Chair Vet PH SPIG of the APHA

MAD DOG DISEASE? More evidence that TSEs are associated with scra-

pie? www.lifeisajoke.com

APHA Veterinary SPIG Update!

21

Dr. Kathrine Feldman, DVM, MPH Baltimore, MD

Dr. Emi Saito, DVM, MSPH Ft Collins, CO

At the Annual Epidemiology meeting, thanks were

given to our outgoing chairs: Tim Stevenson

(Credentials), George Moore (Examinations), Sean

Altekruse (Nominations), and Bob Wills (CE). As

with any small organization--staffing our 4 commit-

tees can be challenging. That's why I'm thankful

that many are willing and flexible in filling our posi-

tions. We have some filling two positions, a first-

year member acting as chair, and even a volunteer

from outside the specialty!

Although this did not happen as it did not meet our

bylaw requirements, it still points out a great atti-

tude of service.

ACVPM Epidemiology Specialty members are recom-

mended to self-nominate or nominate other Spe-

cialty members for the ACVPM Secretary position.

The two-year position of our current secretary,

James Wright, will expire at the time of our summer

meeting with AVMA. The election must be held no

later than 60 days prior to the summer meeting.

The Secretary's primary responsibility is to take

minutes at the annual meeting, and to assist the

Specialty President with other duties during the year

as needed. If the President cannot conduct his/her

duties, the Secretary substitutes for the President.

If the Secretary needs financial help to attend the

annual meeting, compensation can sometimes be

arranged. The Secretary position is a great oppor-

tunity to provide a critically important service to the

Specialty, without an excessive demand on your

time.

Nominations should be sent to Dr. Millicent Eidson,

Nominations Committee Chair, at

mxe04@health.state.ny.us. Please send nomina-

tions or questions as soon as you can, but no later

than April 15.

Our list server seems to be correctly emailing all

members--now all we need is to start using it! I be-

long to a list server regarding safety, and it really

can be a valuable tool to get feedback, and infor-

mation. Of course having 5,000 members helps,

but please consider this new capability the next

time you have an interesting question. To access

the list, simply go to the epidemiology tab at the top

of the home page, select the members listing page

and use the hyperlink at the top of the page.

Several responses were received from the question

posed in our last newsletter: What is keeping you

back from pursuing the epidemiology specialty?

The answers included: No additional incentive, lack

of time, the idea that the test is really hard, and the

publication requirement. As with any adaptive chal-

lenge, there is no easy answer to growing our spe-

cialty but what follows are two ideas using different

approaches. The first is building and distributing an

Epidemiology Specialty brochure: This could cover

what to expect on the exam, our mission and goals,

and benefits of membership. Are there any volun-

teers for this project?

The second is a more personal approach, which I

usually find more effective. I'd like to challenge eve-

ry epidemiology specialty member to make a goal to

personally replace themselves. Why not mentor,

encourage, and train someone to study, grow, and

join?

Bruce R. Burnham, DVM, MPH

Epidemiology Specialty President