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 Topic: Technical Articles
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Opinion & Comment: Vision Of The Veterinarian About the Integral Sustainable Development of the Human Being
Posted by: JimEdwards on Tuesday, November 20, 2007 - 03:04 PM
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(Honoring to the Pan-American Day of the Veterinarian, October 2)
Juan Renjifo Llanos
Former President of Veterinary Association of Bolivia. Honorary Member of PANVET. Santa Cruz-Bolivia
E-mail: renjifo@cotas.com.bo
The veterinary profession in our community has a great responsibility to ensure the production of food of animal origin for human consumption, to preserve the veterinary public health and animal welfare, but should also look after the environment and identified fully with Sustainable Development.
We are in agreement that the ideal paradigm of man today is its Comprehensive Sustainable Development, whose main component is the preservation and enhancement of its natural and social environment.
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Constraints on livestock production
Posted by: JimEdwards on Thursday, October 04, 2007 - 02:43 PM
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by Dr Alamdar Hussain Malik Dr. Alamdar Hussain Malik
(Secretary/Registrar, Pakistan Veterinary Medical Council.)
ANIMAL agriculture systems have been categorised on the basis of agro-ecological opportunities and demand for livestock commodities. In general, these systems are shaped by prevailing socio-cultural environments. In many of these systems, the livestock element is interwoven with crop production.
Animal manure is essential for maintaining soil fertility, and the role of animals in nutrient cycling is often an important motivation for keeping animals, particularly where this involves a transfer of nutrients from common property resources to private land.
Many of these systems that are the result of a long evolution are currently under pressure to adjust to rapidly evolving socio-economic conditions; large intensive livestock production units, in particular for poultry production, have emerged over the last decades in response to the rapidly growing demand for livestock products.
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News: Livestock Research for Rural Development Newsletter Volume 19, Number 5
Posted by: JimEdwards on Friday, May 25, 2007 - 04:45 PM
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Financial efficiency of health and pig management education intervention in controlling porcine cysticercosis in Mbulu District, northern Tanzania
H A Ngowi, J E D Mlangwa, H Carabin, M R S Mlozi, A A Kassuku, S I Kimera and A L Willingham III
Source:
Livestock Research for Rural Development Newsletter Volume 19, Number 5
Abstract
The objective of this study was to determine the financial efficiency of health and pig management education intervention in reducing the incidence rate of porcine cysticercosis to smallholder pig farmers in Mbulu District, northern Tanzania. We used investment appraisal analytical method (a simple form of cost-benefit analysis) in an Excel® spreadsheet model. Sensitivity analyses were also conducted to identify the effects of uncertainty on costs and benefits as well as disease incidence rate.
Over a period of 5 years, the health and pig management education intervention would have a significant financial benefit to the smallholder pig farmers in Mbulu District [NPV: US $3507 (95% CI: 3421 to 3591); IRR: 370%]. The sensitivity analysis showed that the health education intervention would remain financially efficient regardless of plausible changes in costs and benefits in the pig production, as well as plausible changes in the incidence rate of porcine cysticercosis.
It is recommended that smallholder pig farmers in Mbulu District be educated on how to control porcine cysticercosis in order to improve their economic well being.
Keywords: Financial efficiency, health and pig management education, Taenia solium control
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Publications: What is Bovine Somatotropin (bST)?
Posted by: JimEdwards on Thursday, January 11, 2007 - 02:04 PM
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By: Kamran Khan, Gen Sec., Sarhad Dairy Farmer’s Association, Peshawar.0333-9153616. Ka_khan@yahoo.com
Bovine somatotropin is a growth hormone found in cattle. The word bovine refers to cattle, and the word somatotropin refers to the name of the hormone. Hormones are chemicals that are secreted by glands within the body. They are natural substances that affect the way the body operates. Bovine somatotropin, abbreviated as bST, is a protein hormone produced in cattle by the pituitary gland located at the base of the animals brain.
A hormone similar to bST is produced in all species of animals. This hormone is important for growth, development, and other bodily functions of all animals. In the 1930s, it was discovered that injecting bST into lactating (milk-producing) cows significantly increased milk production.
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WVA Information: The Role of Veterinarians in the World
Posted by: JimEdwards on Friday, June 16, 2006 - 06:19 PM
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Dr Leon Russell
President
 Global miniaturization resulting from rapid travel systems and advancing communication technology is demanding new roles of veterinarians and veterinary organizations.
Man is an ever-increasing and frequent world traveler. Animals and animal products travel with him. Also, pathogens are also frequent fliers, and the veterinary profession must be ever alert to quickly recognize the introduction of epizootic diseases such as avian influenza, foot-and-mouth disease and numerous other highly contagious diseases. Some may travel with the aid of nature through storms and waterfowl flyways.
The veterinary profession must realize that the responsibility for biosecurity is a joint effort that must be shared by all who have a responsibility for animals and animal products – both farm and companion animals. Unfortunately, epizootic disease, zoonotic diseases, and emerging diseases are no respecter of animal species and can infect not only farm animals but also companion animals. The conventional barriers of oceans and mountains can no longer be relied upon to exclude pandemic causing pathogens out of any country. The veterinarian is actually a sentinel for the early detection of accidentally or intentionally introduced exotic animal and zoonotic diseases. And veterinarians are the first line of defense against agro-terrorism; they are the key component of biodefense. The three-pronged role of a veterinarian in biodefense is:
• To prevent the introduction of epizootic disease.
• To Identify introduced epizootic disease more quickly.
• To eradicate introduced disease more effectively.
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New initiatives in buffalo breeding in Pakistan
Posted by: JimEdwards on Tuesday, May 09, 2006 - 12:03 AM
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Dr. Makhdoom Abdul Jabbar
Associate Professor, UVAS, Lahore
Buffalo is a main dairy animal in Pakistan. About more than 75% milk and 65% meat comes from buffalo. It is playing very important role in the economy of small holders as well as landless people in the rural areas. In the beginning, buffalo was somewhat ignored and most of budget was spent on cattle production. Dairy cattle cross breeding was continuation of that priority. However, with the passage of time the government has come to believe that buffalo is our main dairy animal and maximum effort is being made to improve this animal.
With the recognition of this animal, many schemes were initiated in the public sector which were more buffalo oriented although cattle still remained integral part of those development schemes. Among these efforts strengthening the livestock farms, establishing of calf rearing centers, and establishment of SPUs at various locations are few examples. Buffalo Bull Mother scheme and more recently, the creation of Buffalo Research Institute at Bhuneki, Pattoki are specific efforts which have been made to improve the buffalo production in the country, and more specifically in Punjab.
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News: Avian influenza
Posted by: JimEdwards on Monday, October 17, 2005 - 12:34 PM
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Source:
Prof. Zdenek Posp??il, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic
Avian influenza (AI) is one of the diseases caused by influenza viruses that affect certain bird and mammalian species including humans. Included in the Orthomyxoviridae family, three types of influenza viruses, A, B and C, are recognized.
Influenza A virus has been recovered from the whole range of species mentioned above, and influenza B and C are almost exclusively pathogenic to humans.
Influenza viruses contain eight specific segments of ribonucleic acid (RNA) and their identification is based on two glycoproteins, haemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA), present on the surface of the virus. Until now 15 HA subtypes and nine NA subtypes have been known; most recently the 16th HA subtype has been added.
The fact that the influenza RNA genome is segmented may allow for rearrangement of the segments, known as genetic reassortment, if one cell is simultaneously infected by two different influenza viruses. This is the “hottest” problem of the whole influenza issue, because this mechanism gives rise to completely new viruses against which the human populations have no protection; consequently, world-wide epidemics – pandemics – may develop.
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News: Asian Bird Flu
Posted by: JimEdwards on Sunday, October 16, 2005 - 12:52 PM
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Source:
What is “Asian Bird Flu”?
“Asian Bird Flu” is the name commonly used in the media to describe a deadly form of avian influenza virus that is currently causing a serious outbreak in multiple Asian countries. This Asian strain of avian influenza is also known as H5N1 avian influenza virus and is a type of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAI) that causes a severe disease in poultry. The Asian Bird Flu is unusual because it is extremely deadly for poultry, it has spread to many different countries in Asia (at least 11), has caused disease outbreaks in wild birds, and it has caused a number of human infections and deaths. These features make this strain of avian influenza different from and more dangerous than any other outbreak of avian influenza that we have seen in the last 60 years. Avian influenza is normally a virus that infects wild water birds, but it normally does not cause disease in this group of birds. The virus on rare occasions has spread to poultry species, like chickens, turkeys, and domestic ducks, where it can cause mild to severe disease. The mild form is known as Low Pathogenicity Avian Influenza or LPAI, and typically causes a respiratory infection in chickens and other poultry species.
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News: Avian Influenza Backgrounder
Posted by: JimEdwards on Sunday, October 16, 2005 - 12:51 PM
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Source:
Causative agent
Avian influenza (AI) is caused by a type A Orthomyxovirus. Multiple serotypes (strains) of the AI virus exist and are classified based on relative numbers of hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N) surface antigens (e.g., H7N2, H5N1). Avian influenza viruses may be of low pathogenicity (LPAI) or high pathogenicity (HPAI) in birds. Most AI virus strains are LPAI and typically cause no to few clinical signs in infected birds. Low pathogenicity AI virus strains, however, are capable of mutating under field conditions into HPAI viruses, and some highly virulent strains of AI have evolved from milder strains after serial passage through poultry populations.
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WVA Information: WVA Live Animal Transportation Policy
Posted by: JimEdwards on Thursday, July 28, 2005 - 03:45 PM
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At the Presidents' Assembly held during the World Veterinary Congress in Minnneaplois, the World Veterinary Associatiion adopted the following policy on the transportatiion of animals.
The WVA recognizes that all around the World, animals are transported for many reasons, and that practices vary widely amongst the regions; and the WVA supports transport where animal welfare is maintained above defined minimum standards that are based on sound science.
Background
• The WVA recognizes that animals are transported for a number of reasons such as the establishment of production animals in new areas; for slaughter where there is insufficient local production and/or insufficient local infrastructure to support trade in animal products; for breeding; and for companionship.
• The WVA notes the internationally recognized “Five Freedoms” which provide valuable guidance on animal welfare and the development of standards by the Office International des ?pizooties and individual countries.
• When transportation is necessary the WVA recommends that the duration is as short as possible and takes place with due regard to the welfare of the animals based on scientific principles.
• Therefore, the WVA recommends that the following principles are carefully reviewed by a veterinarian before animals are transported.
Principles
1. While the transport of animals is often dependent on economic conditions which will influence animal health and welfare, but also of importance to public health, conditions en route should at least meet the minimum standards.
2. The transportation of live animals should be conducted by means that fulfil animal welfare technical standards that are based on sound science.
3. Animal transportation should be in accordance with any regulations set by the veterinary services of the country or countries involved.
4. Factors of greatest importance during transport are:
• Means of transport
• The route plan
• The competence of the operator
• Species
• The health of the animals
• The duration of transport which starts when the first animal is been loaded and lasts until the last animal has been unloaded
• Loading density
• Meteorological conditions
• Ventilation
• The provision of food and water
• Provision for the animals to rest
5. The veterinary profession can assist transporters and the public in determining what influence transportation can have on health and welfare of transported animals.
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Articles: International Veterinary Information Service
Posted by: JimEdwards on Sunday, October 31, 2004 - 05:54 PM
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In 2004, International Veterinary Information Service(IVIS) has added 31 bookchapters, 1 complete textbook (Toxicology) and 6 congress proceedings. Taken together, more than 2,100 new pages of up-to-date information in veterinary medicine have been added to the site.
As a veterinarian or veterinary student, you can consult the countless books and proceedings whenever and as often as you need, free of charge, thanks to sponsorship of the veterinary industry. To secure more sponsorship, we need to further increase our membership (currently 76,555 members). While this number may seem high, there are still many collegues who have never heard of the IVIS website.
Please help us to reach the entire veterinary community by sending the text below to your colleagues or classmates. If each of us forwards this email to at least 5 friends, we may perhaps reach the 100,000 membership mark before January 2005.
"The IVIS on-line library offers a wide range of veterinary textbooks and proceedings. All publications are written by veterinary experts and are reviewed by their peers. You can visit the IVIS website for free as often as you need (free registration required). To view the list of recently added publications go to http://www.ivis.org/search/recent.asp
Irma Revah, DVM MPVM PhD
Editor in Chief
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IVIS is a New York-based, not-for-profit organization dedicated to provide
up-to-date, clinical information to veterinarians, veterinary students and
animal healyh professionals worldwide using Internet technologies.
International Veterinary Information Service (IVIS), P.O. Box 4371, Ithaca
NY 14852, USA. Email: mailto:info@ivis.org - website: http//www.ivis.org
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Articles: Animal Wastes and Their Management
Posted by: JimEdwards on Tuesday, September 21, 2004 - 11:46 PM
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By Syed Hassan Raza
Department Of Livestck Mangement
Agriversity Faisalabad 38000
WHAT IS WASTE?
ANIMAL WASTES:
i) Manure refers to feces and urine.
ii) Waste refers to manure with added bedding, rain, soil, etc. It also refers to milk house or washing waters not
particularly associated with manure. Livestock wastes also typically include hair, feathers, and other debris.
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Articles: Animal biotechnology report
Posted by: JimEdwards on Saturday, August 21, 2004 - 10:47 PM
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This report describes and evaluates animal biotechnology and its application in veterinary medicine and pharmaceuticals as well as improvement in food production. Knowledge of animal genetics is important in the application of biotechnology to manage genetic disorders and improve animal breeding. Genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics are also being applied to animal biotechnology.
Transgenic technologies are used for improving milk production and the meat in farm animals as well as for creating models of human diseases. Transgenic animals are used for the production of proteins for human medical use. Biotechnology is applied to facilitate xenotransplantation from animals to humans. Genetic engineering is done in farm animals and nuclear transfer technology has become an important and preferred method for cloning animals.
Biotechnology has potential applications in the management of several animal diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease, classical swine fever and bovine spongiform encephalopathy. The most important biotechnology-based products consist of vaccines, particularly genetically engineered or DNA vaccines. Gene therapy for diseases of pet animals is a fast developing area because many of the technologies used in clinical trials humans were developed in animals and many of the diseases of cats and dogs are similar to those in humans.
Molecular diagnosis is assuming an important place in veterinary practice. Polymerase chain reaction and its modifications are considered to be important. Fluorescent in situ hybridization and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays are also widely used. Newer biochip-based technologies and biosensors are also finding their way in veterinary diagnostics.
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Diseases Of Turtles
Posted by: JimEdwards on Monday, June 28, 2004 - 04:18 PM
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Dr Saba Badar Khari
UVAS Lahore
Diseases mean anything that causes Disease, anything that is deviating from normal is count under the heading of disease. Turtles are supposed to be a group that can never catch any disease, whatever kind of environment they live in they are thought to be a part of that and thought to be immune against all the possible threats which other aquatic or terrestrial life is supposed pro vulnerable. It is a general idea regarding the Turtle species in our country. But facts say things far different.
Turtles are found to be very sensitive for their hygienic environment, for a balanced diet, for a suitable temperature and even for a rest place in their aquatic environment that could prevent them from drowning. It is seen that if no proper sunlight is provided to the turtles, their shell doesn’t get harder enough to make them look like a turtle but only like a prawn!!
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MASTITIS: A Monster Threat to Dairy Industry
Posted by: JimEdwards on Tuesday, June 22, 2004 - 02:18 PM
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Dr Syed Hassan Raza
By definition Mastitis is “inflammation of the mammary gland”.
In the present state of knowledge it seems practicable and reasonable to define mastitis as a disease characterized by the presence of a significantly increased leukocyte count in milk from affected glands. The Mastitis Committee of the Australian Veterinary Association defined the nature and causes of mastitis as “Mastitis is an inflammation of udder and as such is a disease complex resulting from any condition or combination of factors leading to injury to the internal structure of one or more quarters”.
There is no standard definition of various types of mastitis but is simplest to consider mastitis as clinical or sub-clinical and symptoms may be acute or chronic.
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Articles: Veterinary institutions in the developing world: current status and future needs
Posted by: JimEdwards on Sunday, June 20, 2004 - 02:33 PM
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Scientific and Technical Review, Volume 23 (1), April 2004
C. de Haan (ed.)
Source: World organisation for animal health (OIE)
Veterinary institutions in the developing world need to adapt to the challenges of the increase in animal production (scale and intensity) and trade and in the movement of animals and products of animal origin, all of which significantly increase the threat of animal disease and zoonosis transmission. This adaptation of Veterinary Services will be carried out in the context of the important changes in the public and private sectors that have taken place in recent years: changing concepts regarding the role of government resulted in budget cuts and reduced support for the large number of tasks that the public Veterinary
Services traditionally performed. The greater focus of national and international policy-makers on reducing poverty in the developing world also added another dimension to the role of animal health services. All these different trends, led to a change in the division of responsibilities between public and private service providers and between the professional (university educated) and para-professional levels.
This special issue of the Scientific and Technical Review of the OIE (World organisation for animal health) provides a balance of the experiences so far and alternative approaches. A group of experts, who have been involved in the development of alternative animal health delivery systems, assess their experiences. The focus is on sub-Saharan Africa, because that is where the need for alternative systems is most pronounced, but all other continents are also covered. Some examples of veterinary institutions in the developed world, and their historical evolution, are provided as indications as to how these systems might work if transferred to the developing world. Depending on the background of the authors, the assessments focus on direct impacts on animal health, possible impacts on human public health, equity for the different target groups and the capacity to reach poor livestock keepers, or respecting trade related sanitary standards. This publication will help competent public veterinary authorities to design more effective veterinary delivery systems that help to improve the surveillance and notification of animal diseases and zoonoses, to safeguard public health, and to open up new markets for livestock products, thereby improving the livelihoods of the 600 million small livestock keepers in the developing world.
© Copyright OIE
Photos:
© F. Thiaucourt, CIRAD-EMVT (Berger FTH.jpg; bovin Eth FTH.jpg)
© Marc Roland
ISBN 92-9044-605-6
ISSN 0253-1933
397 pp. approximately
Format: 21 ? 29.7 cm
Price: 50? (airmail postage is included for all countries)
Ref. : R 23-1
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Good paper on Antimicrobial Resistance
Posted by: JimEdwards on Thursday, April 29, 2004 - 02:26 PM
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Currently only available in Spanish
Please find attached a very good paper prepared by Prof. J. Errecalde on "Uso de Antimicrobianos en Animales de Consumo, Desarrollo de Resistencias, su Incidencia en Salud Publica".
Because of the total file size, it is loaded in two parts:
Part I and Part II
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Causes of Vaccine Failure in Poultry
Posted by: agrilive on Thursday, March 25, 2004 - 02:14 PM
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Professor Dr. Muhammad Siddique,Chairman Vety. Microbiology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad.
Muhammad Sami Ullah, Veterinary Officer (H), L&DD, Punjab.
Vaccines are used to prevent or reduce problems that may occur when a poultry flock is exposed to field pathogens. Like insurance, there is a price to be paid for protection against a potential threat. This could be in the form of price of vaccine, time spent to administering the vaccines and losses due to vaccine reactions (live vaccines) and localized tissue damage (killed vaccines).
There are two types of vaccines i.e. live vaccines and killed vaccines. The live vaccines first infect the chicken, multiply and produce immunity. The live vaccines have got several advantages such as ease of administration, low price, rapid onset of immunity and broader scope of protection because chickens are exposed to all stages of the replicating virus. Several disadvantages associated with the live vaccines are; problems with uniform vaccine application, excessive vaccine reactions, unwanted spread of the vaccinal viruses and extreme handling requirements needed to maintain viability of the vaccinal organisms.
Killed Vaccines are prepared from bacteria or viruses that have been inactivated and processed. These vaccines cannot spread from bird-to-bird and require individual injection. Several advantages of the killed vaccines are; administration of a uniform dose, safety (inactivated organism), development of uniform levels of immunity (each bird receives the same dose), no chance for spread of vaccinal organisms, increased product stability and choice for a wider variety of virus strains. Various disadvantages of the killed vaccines are; increased costs (labor and product), slower onset of immunity, narrow spectrum of protection and localized tissue damage at the site of injection.
A vaccination failure occurs when, following vaccine administration, the chickens do not develop adequate protection and are susceptible to a field disease outbreak. There are several factors, which cause vaccine failure including high level of maternal antibodies, stress of various types such as environmental extremes, inadequate nutrition, parasitism and other concurrent diseases can also contribute towards vaccine failure. Improper handling or administration of vaccine should also be considered. Before planning any vaccination program, protective antibody levels against various diseases must be determined as protective antibody levels of one vaccine do not assure protection for other diseases. Poor distribution of vaccine results in missed ones, which causes excessive rolling-type reactions of long duration ending in delayed immunity in case of live vaccines and no protection in killed vaccines.
Health status of the flock is also important point of consideration as there may be incubating disease at the time of vaccination and time is needed for antibody production to begin and reach protective levels. Immunosuppression of various types has negative effect on immunity development such as infections (Infectious bursal disease, Mareks' disease, CRD and coccidiosis). Mycotoxins also play important role in Immunosuppression. The poor vaccine quality e.g., low vaccine titer and/or contaminations lead to vaccine failure. Last but not least, cold chain must be assured.
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Silage! A Vital Solution of Fodder Scarcity in the Country
Posted by: agrilive on Thursday, March 25, 2004 - 02:09 PM
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By
Nasir Ali Tauqir and Dr. Muhammad Sarwar,
Institute of Animal Nutrition and Feed Technology,
University of Agriculture, Faisalabad
The critical constraint for profitable livestock production in developing countries is the inadequacy of quality forage. Because of ever growing human need for food, only limited cultivated land can be allocated to fodder production. Due to low per acre yield and minimum area under fodder production, the available fodder supply is much less than actually needed. This shortage in fodder supply is further being aggravated by increased urbanization and enhanced shifting trend of agriculture towards cash crops which further reduced the area under fodder crops by 2% after each decade. Moreover in our region, low per acre fodder yield coupled with two important fodder scarcity periods (one during summer and other during winter months), which, further aggravated the fodder availability situations.
Manipulating surplus fodder can go a long way to bridge this wider gap between fodder supply and demand during scarcity periods. Improvement in quality and quantity of feeds could result in the improvement of livestock production up to 50% from existing genetic potential of animals. So there is an immediate need to explore the available feed resources for sustainable livestock production and to suggest remedies to minimize the gap between nutrients availability and requirements of animals. One of the important feasible alternatives is to overcome the fodder shortage during severe weather conditions or a prolonged drought is the silage making of fodder when it is abundantly available. Preservation of surplus fodder by silage making can help reduce this irregular fodder supply pattern round the year.
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