May
21
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May
21
MN VDL WELCOMES NEW ANATOMIC PATHOLOGIST
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May
21
MN VDL WELCOMES NEW FOOD ANIMAL PATHOLOGIST
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May
21
AAVLD Northeast Region Update
- Craig Sarver, DVM, retired for the second time from the Ohio Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (ADDL). Dr. Sarver provided 32 years of service as a pathologist at the ADDL, retiring in 2022. He returned in a part-time capacity to provide continued pathology support and retired for a second time this past April. Craig is known for his expertise in poultry pathology, and the lab may ask him to come back in the winter if he isn’t busy touring all of the national parks.
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May
21
2025 NEUSAHA Meeting Held in Harrisburg
The 2025 NEUSAHA annual meeting occurred this year in April at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex & Expo Center in Harrisburg. The meeting provided a valuable opportunity to connect with colleagues outside the usual October gathering and was a welcome change from virtual meetings. The inclusive nature of our regional group, which includes AAVLD representation, was notable, and the meeting featured interesting presentations on topics ranging from rabies and HPAI to mRNA vaccines and market prices. A highlight included multiple laboratory speakers from the NAHLN and NADPRP-funded “Transboundary, Regional Emerging and Novel Disease (TREND) Rounds,” an initiative open for northeast AAVLD members to join (email Rob to receive communications: [email protected]). The meeting attendees also had the opportunity to tour the Pennsylvania Veterinary Laboratory that is across the street from the PA Expo Center. We look forward to seeing the rest of our amazing colleagues at the annual meeting this October, where NE AAVLD Representative Melanie Prarat (Ohio) and her virology co-chair, Roman Pogranichniy (Kansas) are presenting a one-day symposium, "International Experiences with High Consequence Animal Disease Outbreaks and Response" that includes speakers from Italy, Germany, Ukraine, Singapore and other countries.
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Karriker Named Iowa State University Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine Department Chair and Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory Executive Director
Category: Newsletter material
May
21
Karriker Named Iowa State University Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine Department Chair and Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory Executive Director
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May
21
KSU ANNOUNCES FUNDING FOR NEW KVDL
On April 11, the Kansas Legislature voted to fund a new veterinary diagnostic laboratory facility for the State of Kansas at Kansas State. The funding provided is $128 million, and fundraising efforts are planned for additional funding. With the recognition by the Kansas Legislature, the Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (KSVDL) will begin the long transition to the Kansas Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (KVDL)at Kansas State. Thanks to all of our fellow labs who helped us get this accomplished!
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May
21
GRAND OPENING OF MISSOURI VMDL
On April 18th, 2025, the University of Missouri celebrated a grand opening for the Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (VMDL) Phase I building and a groundbreaking for the VMDL Phase II building. The phase I building ( 34,200 sf) was funded by the state of Missouri ($15 million) and the College of Veterinary Medicine ($15 million). The Phase II building ( ~40,000 sf) is funded by the state ($43 million) and will be named the Dr. Dan Brown Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Building. The late Dr. Dan Brown was an alumnus of the College and served in the Missouri House of Representatives and Senate. The new facility will enable the VMDL to improve its capabilities and capacity in educating veterinary students and supporting the veterinary community and agricultural sector.
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Government Relations, Washington DC update- Tanya LeRoith, AAVLD President
Category: Newsletter material
Apr
23
The Executive and Government Relations Committees joined USAHA in DC in late March to meet with government agencies involved in animal health. At the time of the meeting, there was a lot of concern about the status of positions in those federal agencies that affect our ability to test for animal diseases. We are closely monitoring the reductions in force and are extremely concerned about the status of positions in key agencies, and the effects the reductions in force will have on our labs. On the positive side, in speaking with staffers with the House and Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committees, there Although NAHLN staff and FDA Vet-LIRN positions have thus far been protected, loss of NAHLN staff due to the Deferred Resignation Program (accelerated retirement option), and loss of support staff and senior leadership in FDA brings questions about how the programs will be administered.
remains a commitment to funding the Farm Bill and NAHLN efforts because the importance of our labs in protecting animal health and trade is well-recognized.
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JVDI in Focus- APRIL 2025
Category: Newsletter material
Apr
23
Bovine herpesviral meningoencephalitis:
large case study and literature review, Bethânia S. Santos, Ricardo A. A. Lemos, Raquel R. Rech,
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Apr
23
It’s already time to start gearing up for the 2025 AAVLD/USAHA Annual Meeting, which will be held at the Gaylord Rockies Hotel in Aurora, CO, from October 30 to November 5, 2025! The Program Committee and the leadership of AAVLD and USAHA have been hard at work putting together a great meeting for you.
We are looking forward to hearing all of the great work that has been going on in our member labs and with other collaborative partners. The abstract submission portal is open now, with abstract submissions closing on June 27, 2025. We encourage both oral and poster in-person presentations. Trainee travel and trainee presentation awards are available to promote excellence in the diagnostic discipline as well as develop presentation skills. Please note that applicants for trainee presentation awards must submit either a recording of their presentation (for oral presentations) or a PDF of their poster (for poster presentations) by October 9th, 2025.
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Dr. Kristy Pabilonia, an avian influenza expert, discusses the virus impact
Category: Newsletter material
Apr
10
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Mar
14
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
Abstract Submissions
General Submission Open: March 15, 2025
General Submission Closes: June 27, 2025
Acceptance Notification: September 9, 2025
Awards Notification: September 9, 2025
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Mar
10
AAVLD AND USAHA LEGISLATIVE LEADERS MEET IN DC
During the third week of March, AAVLD and USAHA legislative committee leaders met in Washington, DC, for two days of meetings with key governmental agencies. This included USDA, APHIS, VS, NVSL, NAHLN, FSIS, NIFA, ARS, APHIS, WS, DHS-CBP, FDA-CVM, FBI-WMD, WOAH, AVMA and CDC. Over four hours alone were dedicated to key USDA leaders, including the personal attendance of the US Chief Veterinary Officer, Dr. Rosemary Sifford, and the USDA APHIS Administrator, Dr. Michael Watson. Their time and conversation were greatly appreciated.
Hot topics were of course related to the management of the current HPAI outbreak in the poultry and dairy industries, NAHLN funding via the Farm Bill which has expired but been extended with a no change continuing resolution through September 30th, and how to maintain essential animal health/food security services where there are possibilities of potential downsizing of budgets within key agencies. This includes concern regarding NAHLN (USDA) and VetLIRN (FDA) funding sources. Though the Federal component of operating state veterinary diagnostic laboratories is quite small, the national coordination and networking, as well as sharing of resources during major outbreaks, is vital and has proven to be an efficient and most effective state/federal partnership for the past 23 years.
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Cow’s Milk Containing Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Virus — Heat Inactivation and Infectivity in Mice
Category: Newsletter material
May
24
TO THE EDITOR:
In late March 2024, highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAI) of the H5N1 subtype was for the first time detected in nasal swabs and milk of dairy cows, increasing concern that HPAI A(H5N1) viruses may enter the human food chain. The Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory obtained cow’s milk samples from an affected herd in New Mexico, from which eight HPAI A(H5N1) viruses were isolated (Table S1; for details, see the Supplementary Appendix, available with the full text of this letter at NEJM.org).
We compared the genetic origin of these HPAI A(H5N1) milk virus isolates with the sequences publicly available at the time of our analysis (Fig. S1 in the Supplementary Appendix). The cow viruses form a single clade encompassing many smaller clades of viruses isolated from cats, raccoons, chickens, and wild birds. The phylogeny is consistent with a single introduction into cows. The viruses isolated in our study (labeled in Fig. S1) fall within the clade of publicly available cow virus sequences, including that from a human isolate, A/Texas/37/2024 (Fig. S1). Further assessment of the cow virus sequences and all avian influenza A virus sequences collected in the Americas since the start of 2020 identified a reassortment event for NP and PB2 segments that occurred immediately before the introduction of HPAI A(H5N1) viruses into cows (Fig. S2), consistent with findings reported by Anderson and colleagues.1
Studies involving foot-and-mouth disease virus revealed that heat inactivation of virus-positive milk samples required higher temperature or longer incubation times (or both) than heat inactivation of virus spiked into milk,2,3 presumably because fat globules and casein micelles may partly protect viruses in virus-positive milk samples. Accordingly, we tested heat inactivation of four HPAI A(H5N1) virus–positive milk samples (NM#93, NM#115, KS#3, and KS#6). Undiluted milk samples were incubated in a polymerase-chain-reaction (PCR) thermocycler at 63°C for 5, 10, 20, or 30 minutes or at 72°C for 5, 10, 15, 20, or 30 seconds (Table 1; see also the Supplementary Appendix). Control samples were left untreated. Heat treatment at 63°C reduced the virus titers below the detection limit of the TCID50 (50% tissue-culture infectious dose) assay (1.5 log10/ml). Heat treatment at 72°C was performed, with the default settings of the PCR thermocycler (i.e., preheated lid at 105°C) or with a metal lid (heated to 72°C) covering the PCR block (see the Supplementary Appendix for details). After heat treatment, samples were inoculated into embryonated chicken eggs or Madin–Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells for virus detection. Under these conditions, heat treatment for 15 or 20 seconds reduced virus titers by more than 4.5 log units but did not completely inactivate the virus (Table 1). We emphasize that the conditions used in our laboratory study are not identical to the large-scale industrial treatment of raw milk.
The stability of HPAI A(H5N1) virus in cow’s milk stored at 4°C is another important question. For milk sample NM#93, we detected a decline of only two log units over 5 weeks. HPAI A(H5N1) virus may therefore remain infectious for several weeks in raw milk kept at 4°C.
To further assess the risk that HPAI A(H5N1)–positive milk poses to animals and humans, we orally inoculated BALB/cJ mice with 50 μl (3×106 pfu) of sample NM#93. The animals showed signs of illness starting on day 1, including ruffled fur and lethargy. All the animals survived until day 4, when they were euthanized to determine virus titers in multiple organs (Figure S3 in the Supplementary Appendix). We detected high virus titers in the respiratory organs (which suggests that infection may have occurred through the pharynx) and moderate virus titers in several other organs, findings consistent with the systemic infections typically caused by HPAI H5 viruses in mammals. Detection of virus in the mammary glands of two mice was consistent with the high virus load in the milk of lactating cows, even though these mice were not lactating. Collectively, our data indicate that HPAI A(H5N1) virus in untreated milk can infect susceptible animals that consume it. In summary, HPAI H5–positive milk poses a risk when consumed untreated, but heat inactivation under the laboratory conditions used here reduces HPAI H5 virus titers by more than 4.5 log units. However, bench-top experiments do not recapitulate commercial pasteurization processes.
NOTES
This letter was published on May 24, 2024, at NEJM.org.
Supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Centers of Excellence for Influenza Research and Response (contract 75N93021C00014) and by grants from the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (JP24wm0125002 and JP243fa627001, to Y.K.), the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (2023-37624-40714 to K.P.), Colorado State University (USDA NIFA: AP23VSD&B000C020 to K.P.), the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) (AP22VSSP0000C024 to K.P.), the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection (WIAE 2307 to K.P.), and the APHIS National Animal Health Laboratory Network Enhancement Project (AP21VSD&B000C005 to K.D.).
Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available with the full text of this letter at NEJM.org.
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL
Supplementary Appendix (nejmc2405495_appendix.pdf)
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Disclosure Forms (nejmc2405495_disclosures.pdf)
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REFERENCES
1. Nguyen T-Q, Hutter C, Markin A, et al. Emergence and interstate spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) in dairy cattle. May 1, 2024 (https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.05.01.591751v1). preprint.
2. Spickler AR, Roth JA. Inactivation of foot-and-mouth disease virus in milk Products. Ames: Center for Food Security and Public Health at Iowa State University, May 14, 2012 (https://www.cfsph.iastate.edu/pdf/inactivation-of-foot-and-mouth-disease-virus-in-milk-products).
3. de Leeuw PW, Tiessink JW, van Bekkum JG. Aspects of heat inactivation of foot-and-mouth disease virus in milk from intramammarily infected susceptible cows. J Hyg (Lond) 1980;84:159-172.
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Bird Flu Outbreak in Dairy Cows Is Widespread, Raising Public Health Concerns
Category: Newsletter material
May
08
Bird Flu Outbreak in Dairy Cows Is Widespread, Raising Public Health Concerns
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May
01
How dairy production is changing in response to avian flu