Members of the AAVLD leadership team will be meeting with key influencers in Washington D.C. next month to emphasize the need for the full funding of the NAHLN.

 

I encourage each of you to contact your state’s legislators to express the need to support the NAHLN, so we can continue to build on this strong and proven network of diagnostic laboratories.

 

[email protected]

(405) 744-6623

Your AAVLD Executive Board recently met for their winter board meeting, February 7 ^th in Las Vegas. The board meets each month throughout the year, usually the first week of the month via teleconference. Three times a year they meet face-to-face. The board manages the affairs of the organization which includes management of our budget, preparation for meetings such as the annual meeting, and interacts with federal agencies, stakeholders, and members. They are available and happy to discuss any issues with you regarding Association affairs. Their email contacts are listed below. They are listed by region, but if you have any personal connections with them feel free to cross regional boundaries to initiate discussions. Thank you executive board members for you dedicated service to AAVLD.

Vision: The AAVLD is a world leader in advancing the discipline of veterinary diagnostic laboratory science to promote global animal health and One Health.

 

Mission : The AAVLD promotes continuous improvement and public awareness of veterinary diagnostic laboratories by advancing the discipline of veterinary diagnostic laboratory science. The AAVLD provides avenues for education, communication, peer-reviewed publication, collaboration, outreach, and laboratory accreditation.

Core values: The AAVLD is committed to these core values:

•Continuous improvement

•Engagement of members

•Effective communication

•Collaboration

•Support of One Health

 

Goals:

1.Advocate for the role of veterinary diagnostic laboratories in global health

2.Foster the continuous improvement of diagnostic laboratory techniques and processes, personnel qualifications, and facilities

3.Promote the continued professional growth of members

4.Disseminate information concerning the diagnosis/monitoring of animal health and disease surveillance

5.Provide a formal accreditation process for veterinary medical diagnostic laboratories

AAVLD membership is open to any individual interested in animal disease laboratory diagnosis. Memberships run by the calendar year (January-December) and membership dues payments are due by November 15th of preceding year to ensure inclusion in the membership directory and receipt of all six issues of JVDI. Note: In order to receive an Annual Meeting registration discounted rate you are required to be a current year AAVLD Member.

The goal of JVDI in Focus is to bring attention to an interesting article appearing in the Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation. This month’s focus is on an article in the upcoming March issue: “Whole genome sequencing confirms source of pathogens associated with bacterial foodborne illness in pets fed raw pet food” by Jennifer L. Jones, Leyi Wang, Olgica Ceric, Sarah M. Nemser, David S. Rotstein, Dominika A. Jurkovic, Yamir Rosa, Beverly Byrum, Jing Cui, Yan Zhang, Cathy A. Brown, Anne L. Burnum, Susan Sanchez, and Renate Reimschuessel.

J Vet Diagn Invest 2019;31(2)

Abstract. Reports of raw meat pet food containing zoonotic foodborne bacteria, including Salmonella, Escherichia coli, and Listeria monocytogenes, are increasing. Contaminated raw pet food and biological waste from pets consuming those diets may pose a public health risk. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Veterinary Laboratory Investigation and Response Network conducted 2 case investigations, involving 3 households with animal illnesses, which included medical record review, dietary and environmental exposure interviews, animal sample testing, and whole genome sequencing (WGS) of bacteria isolated from the pets and the raw pet food. For each case investigation, WGS with core genome multi-locus sequence typing analysis showed that the animal clinical isolates were closely related to one or more raw pet food bacterial isolates. WGS and genomic analysis of paired animal clinical and animal food isolates can confirm suspected outbreaks of animal foodborne illness.

 

News

JVDI employs the software program iThenticate to detect plagiarism. From the U.S. Office of Research Integrity, plagiarism of text is “copying a portion of text from another source without giving credit to its author and without enclosing the borrowed text in quotation marks” and plagiarism of ideas is “appropriating someone else’s idea (e.g., an explanation, a theory, a conclusion, a hypothesis, a metaphor) in whole or in part, or with superficial modifications without giving credit to its originator.” Detection of plagiarized material in any manuscript will result in its immediate rejection, regardless of its scientific merit. The author’s institution may be notified.

Questions or comments?

Contact Holly Farrell, [email protected]

AAVLD Website Update

The AAVLD website has content that is needed by, and useful to members, the Accreditation Committee, JVDI/publications, other standing & special committees and other interested parties. However, the current version went live in 2012 and over the years, as more and more content was added, it has become difficult to navigate and easily find what is needed. Therefore, the Executive Board has formed a Website Task Force to investigate, plan and guide an update/makeover of the organization website to make it easier to find and use the information and services available there. One of the first Website Task Force tasks will be to survey members on the issues they encounter on the current website, and what features are needed, and those wanted in the new website.

2019 AAVLD annual meeting planning has already started and very soon will hit full swing. As the Program Chair, I encourage the members to reach out to me or our Executive Director, Dr Zeman with suggestions to improve your experience for the upcoming meeting. For those of you who will be attending the meeting first time, the meeting offers an excellent professional social networking opportunity besides offering a great learning experience.

For the AAVLD plenary session this year, we are trying to focus on “Advances in diagnostics and its impact on One Health mission”. We will keep you posted as we line up the speakers and the program but if you have suggestions for the speakers, please send your suggestions to me, as this is not only opportunity to learn but also showcase major progress or advances in our field. Also, for the USAHA plenary session on Monday morning, both AAVLD and USAHA teams are working together to see if a better format can be accommodated, considering the length of our joint meeting lasts and how busy the sessions are each day.

More updates to follow soon about the meeting and pre-meeting symposia. I hope you will plan to attend, and be part of the meeting this coming year!!

With best wishes,

Deepanker Tewari

To help assess the degree of contamination of animal feeds and the ability of veterinary diagnostic laboratories to respond to routine and emergency needs for feed analysis, the CVM periodically performs confidential surveys of those laboratories. The last such feed contamination survey was performed in 2012 and provided valuable information on chemical contamination of animal feeds between 2007 and 2012. The current survey will assess chemical and microbial contamination of animal feeds that have been submitted to veterinary diagnostic laboratories, and those reported in the literature, from 2012 to the present. In addition, a survey will help determine the capabilities and capacity of those laboratories. The electronic survey will be distributed to the Directors of veterinary diagnostic laboratories in the U.S. and Canada later this spring/summer. Results of the surveys will be aggregated by USDA VS Districts to maintain anonymity and client confidentiality.

For the period May 15, 2018 through January 30, 2019, the United States Department of Food and Agriculture (USDA) has confirmed 362 cases of virulent Newcastle disease (vND) in California, primarily in backyard exhibition birds. Cases have been diagnosed in San Bernardino, Riverside, Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. vND was also detected between December 14, 2018 and January 31, 2019, in four commercial chicken flocks and in a backyard/non-commercial layer flock in Riverside County, via routine surveillance testing. Three of the commercial flocks and the backyard/non-commercial flocks have been depopulated. Depopulation plans are underway for the fourth commercial flock. The presence of vND was also recently confirmed in a small flock of backyard exhibition chickens in Spanish Fork, Utah. This is the first case of vND in Utah, and is likely traced to the current outbreak of the disease in Southern California. CAHFS continues working with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), the United States Department of Agriculture in the eradication of vND. Stringent biosecurity measures are paramount to prevent spread of vND. For more information, please refer to CDFA’s website or call the Sick Bird Hotline at 866-922-2473.   

Source: CAHFS Newsletter

NOTE from Ashley Hill CAHFS:   CAHFS has relied on the NAHLN throughout the vND outbreak. With NAHLN support, both Oregon State University and Colorado State University sent experienced staff to California to assist in whatever capacity was needed.