In Short
Newcastle spreads to Northern California
A viral disease deadly to poultry spread to at least one chicken in Northern California, according to state health authorities.
On March 15, California Department of Food and Agriculture officials said they received confirmation a chicken from Alameda County, which is on the east side of San Francisco Bay and includes Oakland, was positive for virulent Newcastle disease. The chicken was the only known infection in the region, but state authorities were searching for other infections.
The chicken's owner had brought the bird to a veterinary clinic.
Since May 2018, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has documented infections at 403 sites in California and one in Utah. Three of California's infections were in commercial egg facilities.
As of Feb. 27, CDFA officials banned movement of poultry anywhere in Los Angeles County and parts of San Bernardino and Riverside counties and ordered destruction of poultry in 15 areas.
Study: Pigs spread FMD prior to illness
A pig that catches foot-and-mouth disease can spread the virus about a day before showing clinical signs, according to study results.
An article published this January in Scientific Reports indicates pigs inoculated with FMD virus had viremia within 24 hours and fever and vesicular lesions at 48 hours. The article estimates the typical subclinical infectious period would be 21 hours.
Pigs that transmit FMD before visible signs of infection could spread the disease through animal movement and indirect contact with other animals before a producer notices a health problem in the herd, the article states.
The authors are from the Department of Agriculture, Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom, and the University of Minnesota. The open-access article is available at the Scientific Reports website.
NIH funds service dog research at NC State
The National Institutes of Health has awarded a $1.5 million grant to Dr. Margaret Gruen of North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine for a five-year study of the traits that make certain puppies candidates to become service and companion dogs.
The project focuses on the emotional and cognitive development of working dog puppies during different growth stages to get a better understanding of how service dog traits develop, announced the university this February.
Various assessments, including measuring plasma and salivary cortisol concentrations as well as heart rate variability during daily activities, will be used with 30 puppies each year for the five years of the research. The study will also look at how different types of training strategies influence development of service dog skills and characterize the psychological mechanisms service dogs rely on or are hindered by when helping people.
Dr. Gruen is an assistant professor of behavioral medicine at NC State's veterinary college and a board-certified veterinary behaviorist. Her research collaborator is Brian Hare, PhD, a professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University.
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Related JAVMA content:
Newcastle spreads near Los Angeles (Sept 15, 2018)