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Reports Says the Nation's Animal Health 'Framework' is Poor

Posted on: Tuesday, 19 July 2005, 12:01 CDT

Jul. 19--About 200 dairies are wedged between the Southern California towns of Ontario and Chino, each holding an estimated 1,500 cows.

If a foreign microbe suddenly invaded, could it be identified and contained before all 300,000 cows were infected? If not, could this urban area handle the rapid slaughter and disposal of so many large animals? Failure to stop the disease could devastate the state's $13.5 billion dairy, beef and pork industries.

In an effort to prevent such a nightmare, a national panel of experts is urging an overhaul of the system that confronts new and emerging animal-borne diseases.

A new report, titled "Animal Health at the Crossroads," concludes that the nation's animal health "framework" -- from the schools that prepare veterinarians to the laboratories that diagnose potential epidemics to the technology those labs use -- is slow, inadequate, poorly coordinated and narrowly focused, leaving the United States vulnerable to epidemics that could threaten not only animals but also spread to humans.

Even diseases that are not "zoonotic," or capable of spreading to humans, can have catastrophic economic effects.

Mark E. Thurmond, professor of medicine and epidemiology at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California-Davis, who was part of the study, noted that foot-and-mouth disease in cattle, for example, "doesn't directly impact human health, but it impacts every pocketbook."

The report was released Monday by the National Research Council, part of the National Academies.

With the emergence of illnesses like SARS, foot-and-mouth disease, "mad cow" disease, avian flu and West Nile virus, "we need to get better at anticipating the emergence and global spread of disease," the report stated.

The diminishing number of veterinary researchers is making it more difficult to meet these new challenges, it noted.

By Lisa M. Krieger and David L. Beck

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Copyright (c) 2005, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.

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Source: San Jose Mercury News

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