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World Veterinary Day was instigated by the World Veterinary Association (WVA) in 2000 to be celebrated annually on the last Saturday of April. In 2008 the WVA and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) agreed on the creation of the World Veterinary Day Award aimed at rewarding the most successful celebration of the veterinary profession by national veterinary associations, alone, or in cooperation with any other selected veterinary body.

The winner will receive 1,000US$ at the 80th OIE General Session to be held in Paris (France) on 20-25 May 2012.

Selected theme for 2012: ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE

Antimicrobials have revolutionised medical and veterinary practice since their introduction more than 60 years ago. Today they are essential tools for ensuring health and welfare of animals.

Loss of efficacy in antimicrobial treatment through resistance development is an ever-present risk both towards animal as well as public health. Especially in the context of the growing global demand for noble proteins along with the crucial need for sufficient and safe production of animal products such as milk, eggs and meat, the responsible and prudent use of antimicrobials in animals must be promoted.

That is why delivery of antimicrobials and treatment of animals should be done directly through well-trained veterinarians: WVA and OIE strongly advocate for the reinforcement of the good governance of Veterinary Services - both in their public and private components – for better control in registration, import, distribution and on-farm use of antimicrobials.

All parties involved must work together to harmonize national and international antimicrobial resistance surveillance and monitoring programmes as well as implement risk assessment measures.

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AMR Portal
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FAO-OIE-WHO Concept Note on health risks at human-animal interface

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World Health Organization

Food-borne illness risks cross borders, production types
By Greg Cima
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February 15, 2012
Dr. Lonnie J. King sees a "perfect microbial storm" in the increasingly global interactions of people, animals, and environments.

Speaking late last year at a meeting convened by the Institute of Medicine's Forum on Microbial Threats, Dr. King, dean of The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine, said adaptation among pathogens, increased human susceptibility to disease, changing environments, intensification of the human-animal interface, human and animal movement across international borders, and antimicrobial resistance have increased the risk of food-borne diseases.

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Following legislative changes, the British Veterinary Association (BVA) has updated its ‘Good Practice Guide to Handling Veterinary Waste’ for England and Wales.

Supported by the Environment Agency the Guide primarily consists of an easy to understand, quick-reference poster enabling vets to categorise and segregate veterinary waste in line with Environment Agency requirements. The poster defines the types of hazardous waste, outlines the types of containers required and sets out the appropriate classification codes.

The Guide is complemented by more detailed web guidance which incorporates useful templates to download.

BVA President Carl Padgett said:
“All businesses have a duty of care to ensure that all waste is stored and disposed of responsibly, that it is only handled or dealt with by those authorised to do so and that appropriate records are kept of all waste that is transferred or received.

“The BVA Guide has been a popular resource for the profession since we first launched it in 2008 making it considerably easier for vets to comply with Hazardous Waste Regulations. The revised poster is hopefully an incentive for practices to check if their requirements have changed and ensure they’re still up-to-date.“

You can see the hazardous waste poster and web advice here and BVA members will receive a hard copy of the poster to display in their practice.

Previously unknown disease in ruminants caused by the so-called Schmallenberg virus
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“Veterinarians – both private practitioners and officials – and farmers need to work together to fight this new challenge.

A well-functioning network of veterinary services that is nation-wide, including remote areas, is essential to detect and control known and emerging disease, such as this one.

Due to their unique position, veterinary practitioners are at the front line of new diseases and form an essential link in the chain of veterinary services: a Global Public Good”

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One Health: Water, Animals, Food and Society
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The mission of the One Health Center of Expertise is to assess and respond to global health problems arising at the human-water-animal-food interface and to design, implement, and evaluate practical, cost-effective, and sustainable solutions that focus on the foundations of health in collaboration with local partners.

Research at the One Health Center will focus on reducing the rate of disease and death resulting from malnutrition, unsafe water, and animal- and vector-borne diseases with the aim of designing, implementing and evaluating health interventions at the national, regional, community and household levels.

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Agency adopts strict conditions set out in IOM report
By R. Scott Nolen
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February 15, 2012
Late last year, the National Institutes of Health froze all new grants for studies involving chimpanzees after an Institute of Medicine review found little scientific necessity for using man's closest genetic relative as a research model.

Dozens of ongoing, federally funded projects will be evaluated according to the new stringent conditions adopted by the NIH, which the IOM says are necessary to justify conducting research on chimpanzees.

Advances in alternative research tools and methods, including cell-based tests and other animal models, have made chimpanzees largely nonessential as research subjects, concluded the IOM report, issued Dec. 15, 2011.

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Please not the closing date for applications is Sunday the 19th of February, 2012.

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February 1, 2012
New studies have delved into the origins of domestic dogs and of modern European and American breeds.

Chinese researchers led a new study suggesting that domestic dogs originated from wolves in Southeast Asia, not the Middle East or Europe. The study appeared as a Nov. 23, 2011, advance online publication in the journal Heredity.

Analysis of mitochondrial DNA has suggested that wolf domestication occurred in Asia south of the Yangtze River. Previous studies involving archaeological records and analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms in nuclear DNA suggested that wolf domestication occurred in Europe or the Middle East, but the authors of the new study in Heredity state that these data sets lack data from Asia south of the Yangtze.

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A proposed EU concession to help put an end to the 20-year hormone beef trade war with the USA and Canada was unanimously endorsed by the International Trade Committee on Thursday. The proposal, which would raise the EU import quota for beef from animals not treated with hormones, will be put to a vote by Parliament as a whole on 13 March.

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