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FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf has praised Namibia for acting swiftly and effectively to halt the spread of Rift Valley Fever (RVF) in the country during recent outbreaks. Alertness and prompt reactions by national livestock bodies prevented potentially devastating consequences on lives, livelihoods and food security.

Speaking at a meeting in the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry in Windhoek, Diouf praised the Namibian institutions involved. "Their alertness and prompt reaction prevented outbreaks of Rift Valley Fever in May 2010 from spreading, with potentially devastating consequences on lives, livelihoods and food security," Diouf said.

Diouf singled out the Meat Board of Namibia, the abattoirs where the disease was detected, the Directorate of Veterinary Services and the livestock farmers concerned.

The vigilance and response of the veterinary services was all the more remarkable, Diouf said, when considering that Rift Valley Fever emerged in Namibia after an absence of 25 years — almost all the staff involved had never had to fight the disease before.

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CIDRAP News
Robert Roos News Editor
The global H5N1 avian influenza situation has not improved very much since the virus began spreading widely in 2003, and many human cases have probably gone unreported, French health experts conclude in an assessment published yesterday in Eurosurveillance.

While the deadly virus still has not gained the ability to spread easily from person to person, "The overall worldwide situation of influenza A(H5N1) . . . is not markedly improved since 2003," says the report by researchers from the French Institute for Public Health Surveillance (Institut de Veille Sanitaire) in Saint-Maurice, a French government agency.

"This fact, and regular reintroduction of the virus by wild birds in countries where foci have been controlled (such as Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey or Vietnam) underscore the importance of maintaining adequate surveillance and response capacities for infections in both animals and humans," the authors add.

Read more at the One Health Initiative website, or at CIDRAP News ...

The Animal Medical Center continues its commitment to compassionate care and cutting-edge medicine.
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In 1910, the Women's Auxiliary to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals opened a temporary clinic on the Lower East Side of New York City for pet owners unable to pay for veterinary care. Several veterinarians volunteered their services, and the clinic treated more than 6,000 animals its first year.

A century later, the veterinary clinic is reportedly the world's largest companion animal hospital, employing 80 veterinarians who treat approximately 40,000 patients and handle some 18,000 emergency cases annually.

As a leading center for veterinary research and clinical advances, the AMC has pushed the boundaries of veterinary medicine. The hospital was the first to establish a cardiac service dedicated to dogs and cats, and a decade later, the AMC had a fully staffed intensive care unit, likely the first in the country.

The center offers 13 veterinary specialties and has 32 board-certified veterinarians on staff, six of whom hold dual board certifications.

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EFSA’s Panel on Animal Health and Welfare (AHAW) has adopted a scientific opinion on the influence of genetic selection on the welfare of broilers and another opinion on the influence of housing and management on the welfare of broiler breeders

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By Chris Guy
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The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) today posted a new issue of Healthy Animals. This quarterly online newsletter compiles ARS news and expert resources on the health and well-being of agricultural livestock, poultry and fish.

Each quarter, one article in Healthy Animals focuses on a particular element of ARS animal research. The current issue discusses ARS research on ways to help cattle producers protect their animals against heat stress.

Research highlighted in this issue includes:
? ARS findings that coat color, wind speed, access to shade and breed could influence the animal's physical response to heat.
? A model that predicts when environmental conditions are ripe for heat stress in livestock, and presents the information in an easy-to-read, color-coded map.
? Findings that solar-radiation-blocking polyethylene cloths are an effective way to reduce stress-related losses.

Professionals interested in animal health issues might want to bookmark the site as a resource for locating animal health experts. An index lists ARS research locations covering 70 animal health topics. These range from specific diseases, such as Lyme disease to broad subjects such as nutrition or parasites.

The site also provides complete contact information for the 25 ARS research groups that conduct studies aimed at protecting and improving farm animal health.

To receive an email alert about each issue's online posting, contact Chris Guy, ARS Information Staff, or sign up on line.

ARS is the principal intramural scientific research agency for the U.S. Department of Agriculture

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At the meeting CAP - post 2013, agriculture stakeholders from across Europe called on the EU to move away from intensive farming to a more sustainable model that supports the economic renaissance of rural areas.
Read the follow up
Read more on the official website.

Electronic consultation : 13 September – 8 October 2010
Call for documents and invitation
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Background
In many countries, an increasing number of unvaccinated and uncared for dogs are roaming in urban spaces and human habitats. This is often due to the increase in urban food waste, the consequences of civil strife, when people had to abandon their dogs for fear that when the animals would bark, the enemy could to locate their owners and kill or abduct them, or simply because of lack of responsible ownership.

These stray and feral dogs give rise to a series of human health, animal health and welfare concerns and the management of their populations has ethical, socio-economic, political and religious impacts in many countries. FAO acknowledges that human health, including the prevention of zoonotic diseases notably, but not only rabies, is a priority , as it negatively affects people’s lives in many ways.

Dogs play a number of important roles in human societies: for example, they are used for herding other animals and guarding property. Families may also have dogs as pets and consider them as part of their social status. When cattle and donkeys die from rabies, households may not be able to replace them and lose an important asset for farming and transportation. However, the importance of managing dog populations without causing unnecessary animal suffering is a must.

Several options of dog population management have been tried out in many countries worldwide and to learn from these experiences, FAO is organizing an e-consultation that will be followed by a technical meeting. This will be a stocktaking exercise describing the current status and analyzing the reasons for the successes or failures in applying different practices to then draw conclusions for the future.

Objective
The main objective of this e-consultation is to identify dog population management options with special emphasis on animal welfare and health. We will also collect relevant information, data and ideas to prepare background documents for a technical meeting, which will be held by FAO jointly with the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) and other organizations in the first quarter of 2011.

The e-consultation will provide an opportunity for researchers, development workers, national and local authorities and the international community at large with an interest in dog population management, to share their knowledge and experiences.

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One Health approach to more efficiently combat new pathogens is gaining strength
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Governments could save billions of dollars by stepping up the prevention and control of high impact animal diseases, some of which pose a direct threat to human health, FAO said today.

Many other animal diseases have a negative impact on people's livelihoods. Pandemic influenza viruses H5N1 and H1N1, foot-and-mouth disease, Rift Valley fever, and rabies are among the more recent disease outbreaks.

Land use, ecological dynamics including climate change, and expanding trade and trade routes are all posing new challenges to animal disease prevention and control, the UN agency warned.

These emerging threats are also related to increased urbanization and strongly growing urban demand for meat, milk and eggs.

"We are expecting the costs to human, animal and plant health of these pathogens, and their overall economic costs, to rise substantially over the next decades" said Juan Lubroth, FAO's Chief Veterinary Officer.

In developing countries, high impact transboundary animal diseases pose a direct threat to the food security, nutrition and income of rural communities that are dependent on livestock.

The collective influenza virus gene pool currently circulating in humans, poultry, pigs and other animals is becoming more diverse with new strains of the virus across different hosts becoming increasingly common.

FAO, in partnership with the World Organisation for Animal Health and the World Health Organization has adopted a One Health strategy to more effectively detect and combat these new pathogens.

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The Alliance for Rabies Control's July 2010 newsletter is now available at:
www.rabiescontrol.net/ARCnewsletter18

There are articles about the upcoming World Rabies Day, the new Blueprint for Rabies Control, the new MEEREB group and rabies control activities around the world including China, Germany, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, the Philippines, and USA.

Read more ...

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Cataracts are an eye problem that most people are familiar with but don’t really understand. We all know about the cloudiness that creeps into the eyes of our aging dogs, but feel helpless to prevent it. Some dogs may even develop cataracts while they’re still fairly young. But are cataracts simply a sign of aging, or are they symptomatic of an underlying problem?

Veterinary ophthalmologist Dr. Bill Miller discusses cataracts in dogs.

Listen to the podcast ...