|
Newsletter Volume 5 Issue 14 15 July 2025 |
|
|
TABLE OF CONTENTS
From the Editor Public Health In the News Food Safety In The News Resources Announcements
Meet Your Committee Representatives Continuing Education
|
|
|
Communications Specialist Mandy Sorensen, DVM, MPH |
| From the Editor Hello members,
We've got a lot packed into this edition of the newsletter with the AVMA convention just days away, updates on New World Screwworm and HPAI, a call for an alternate representative on the AVMA Committee on Antimicrobials, and much more. Items that may be of particular interest:
See you at the AVMA Convention! - Later this week we'll be gathering with colleagues from around the world for the combined AVMA Convention and World Veterinary Association Congress. We hope we'll see you there for great learning and networking opportunities. You can check out the full lineup and learn more here. Below are a few events AAFSPHV is involved with - we hope you'll join us!
- Public Practice Networking Event hosted by DCVMA, NAFV, and AAFSPHV
- Saturday, July 19 from 5:00-6:30pm
- Marriott Marquis M4 #E297 Independence Ballroom A
Orotopical Rabies Vaccine in Vampire Bats - bioRxiv, the preprint server, recently published a study evaluating use of an orotopical rabies vaccine on vampire bats in Jalisco, Mexico. Using the fluorescent a biomarker to evaluate intra-colony uptake, researchers found that topical application on 20% of the the colony resulted in estimated uptake by over 85% of the colony. Read more on the preprint server here
A Primer On PFAS and Animal Health - Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are found in a variety of products and don't break down easily in the environment. They are a source of widespread contamination, and present risks to humans and animals. Learn about the sources, exposure routes, and potential hazards of PFAS in animals in this helpful fact sheet from the AVMA. Read the fact sheet here.
APHA Joins Others to Sue HHS, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for Unlawful, Unilateral Vaccine Changes - From the APHA's recent press release, "Today, the American Public Health Association (APHA) joined...in filing suit in American Academy of Pediatrics v. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts to defend vaccine policy, and to put an end to the Secretary’s assault on science, public health and evidence-based medicine." Read the full press release here.
Partnership for Public Service Career Expo for Current and Former Feds - Are you a current or federal former employee looking for new work opportunities? On July 24 the Partnership for Public Service will be hosting a free virtual career expo.
Click here to learn more and register.
Job Board - The job board is updated weekly, and many interesting roles such as the State of Idaho Senior Veterinary Medical Officer, State of Nevada Department of Agriculture Division of Animal Industry Veterinary Diagnostician, and USDA APHIS Veterinary Medical Officer that were just posted and expire very soon. If you're looking for new employment, I highly encourage you to check it out.
One Health Heroes - We have been partnering with Dr. Brittany Lancellotti of Your Vet Wants You To Know to bring public health information to pet owners and veterinary professionals twice monthly. You can listen to episodes here. It's a great experience and platform, and if you'd be interested in sharing your expertise on a One Health topic please email me at editor@aafsphv.org
To continue to support our members and provide access to high quality continuing education, we're updating the CE calendar regularly, so take a look. As always, if you have news, CE or job opportunities, or thoughts or concerns you'd like to share, please send them my way at editor@aafsphv.org. I'd love to hear from you!
Thank you for all the incredibly valuable work you do! |
|
|
PUBLIC HEALTH IN THE NEWS |
|
|
Understanding the Burden of Agriculturally Significant Vector-Borne and Parasitic Diseases in Kansas
Michel, K., Ioerger, N. M., Ake, A. M., Hettenbach, S. M., Olds, C., Pendell, D. L., Stack, J., Higgs, S., & Vanlandingham, D. L. (2025). Understanding the Burden of Agriculturally Significant Vector-Borne and Parasitic Diseases in Kansas. Vector borne and zoonotic diseases (Larchmont, N.Y.), 25(7), 429–443. https://doi.org/10.1089/vbz.2025.0023
Background: The state of Kansas (KS) has been called the “agricultural heartland” of the United States. Vector-borne and parasitic diseases (VBPD) have a major impact on the production of livestock, such as cattle, swine, goats and sheep, as well as crops, such as wheat, corn, and sorghum. The purpose of this review is to educate agricultural professionals in the state of KS about VBPD of current or potential concern and to inform the public about the challenges faced by the agricultural community.
Methods: This review describes and discusses the endemic VBPD that currently impact agricultural production in KS and foreign VBPD of concern. In addition, we outline the major arthropod vectors of VBPD in KS, including ticks, mites, and various insects. In the context of this review, parasites are strictly limited to arthropod ectoparasites that negatively impact livestock production. Modern agricultural data for the state of KS were mostly sourced from the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, and current KS VBPD data were mostly sourced from the KS State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.
Conclusion: These VBPD have a large economic impact on the state and country, and we have concluded there is a need for updated estimates regarding the economic burden of VBPD in KS and throughout the United States to make better animal and crop health investment decisions.
Read more |
|
|
Calculating the predictive value of the orthogonal testing approach and its use in clinical decision-making Wicker, S. A., & Freeman, K. P. (2025). Calculating the predictive value of the orthogonal testing approach and its use in clinical decision-making. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 1–8. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.2460/javma.25.03.0211
Understanding the predictive value of diagnostic testing is a key component of clinical decision-making. Just as the predictive value of a single diagnostic test can be calculated, these formulas can be used to estimate the predictive value of multiple test results. Three clinical examples are provided to demonstrate how an orthogonal testing approach affects confidence in a clinical diagnosis. Read more |
|
|
Pet treats, Salmonella, and antimicrobial resistance; a One Health problem
Parker, E. M., Mollenkopf, D. F., Li, C., Ballash, G. A., & Wittum, T. E. (2025). Pet treats, Salmonella, and antimicrobial resistance; a One Health problem. Preventive veterinary medicine, 244, 106622. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prevetmed.2025.106622
Zoonotic pathogens, including Salmonella and antimicrobial resistant bacteria, may contaminate the food or treats consumed by our pets. These may directly impact the health of the pets or may be transferred to humans who are in close contact. To better understand the potential risk, we purchased 505 pet treats from pet and farm supply stores, grocery stores, and online retailers in the U.S. over a period of 16 months to identify and characterize Salmonella and Enterobacterales resistant to Highest Priority Critically Important Antimicrobials. We used selective media to detect Salmonella and bacteria resistant to colistin, carbapenems, fluoroquinolones, and 3rd and 4th generation cephalosporins. Four pig ear treats from Brazil were positive for Salmonella, with serotypes, Muenchen, Derby, Agona and Regent. We found that S. Muenchen and S. Derby were closely related to clinical and environmental isolates from the U.S., Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia. We detected three colistin resistant isolates, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, and Enterobacter hormaechei, all from pig ear treats from Brazil, harboring the mcr-1.18 resistance gene on identical IncX4 plasmids. In addition, we recovered one carbapenem resistant E. coli harboring both blaKPC-2 and blaNDM-5 from a “bully stick”. We found that treats originating from North America and treats purchased in grocery stores had a lower risk of contamination with bacteria resistant to the antimicrobials tested. Outreach and extension activities are needed to increase awareness of the risks of contaminated pet treats and to highlight the importance of hand hygiene when feeding and interacting with pets.
Read More |
|
|
Update on H5N1 Bird Flu Surveillance in U.S. From the CDC H5 Bird Flu webpage: "On July 7, 2025, CDC streamlined H5N1 bird flu updates with routine influenza data updates and updated reporting cadences to reflect the current public health situation. As such, the following changes were made to this page: Data on the number of people monitored and tested for bird flu are reported monthly.
USDA data on HPAI detections in animals will no longer be reported on the CDC website. These data can be found on USDA's website. CDC will continue to report any additional human cases of H5 bird flu here and in FluView."
Visit the CDC's H5 Bird Flu: Current Situation page |
|
|
New World Screwworm Current Situation and Resources |
|
|
Latest update from USDA:
"(Washington, D.C., July 9, 2025)- Yesterday, Mexico’s National Service of Agro-Alimentary Health, Safety, and Quality (SENASICA) reported a new case of New World Screwworm (NWS) in Ixhuatlan de Madero, Veracruz in Mexico, which is approximately 160 miles northward of the current sterile fly dispersal grid, on the eastern side of the country and 370 miles south of the U.S./Mexico border. This new northward detection comes approximately two months after northern detections were reported in Oaxaca and Veracruz, less than 700 miles away from the U.S. border, which triggered the closure of our ports to Mexican cattle, bison, and horses on May 11, 2025..."
Read the full press release from USDA here
Screwworm Resources: New World Screwworm remains a threat, and all veterinarians should be sure to know the signs and how to report potential infestations. Below are some resources on identifying, treating, and reporting cases that may be helpful. A great, concise article from the AVMA on NWS diagnosis, treatment, and how to report cases can be found here. The USDA-APHIS page on New World Screwworm can be found here. The Texas A&M Agrilife Extension New World Screwworm Fact Sheet can be found here.
USDA-APHIS Training Module 41 on New World Screwworm can be found here. This is highly recommended viewing for all veterinarians. |
|
|
Executive Vice President, Katherine Waters, DVM, MPH, DACVPM |
| LaFontaine Memorial Scholarship Period Open -
Applications Due TODAY 15 July 2025
Qualifications -
Be a veterinarian working on an advanced degree or be a student working on a veterinary degree with an emphasis on food safety and public health.
- Enrolled in an advanced university program (DVM, Master's, PhD, DrPH, etc.) focused on food safety and public health.
-
Demonstrate intent to continue in a career focused on food safety and/or public health.
TO LEARN MORE AND APPLY: -
Visit our website
- Log into the Member Center
- Click the Scholarship Button
-
Select Lafontaine Memorial and fill out the form
- Attach a CV
- Click submit
Applications will be reviewed during August 2025 and $1000 scholarship awarded by Sept 1, 2025 |
| |
|
Call For Alternate Representative to the AVMA Committee on Antimicrobials
We are looking for a member to volunteer as our alternate representative to the Committee on Antimicrobials for a 3 year term, from 2025-2028.
To learn more about the Committee on Antimicrobials, click here. We ask that our representative: - Attend all in person and virtual committee meetings
-
Provide a short summary for the newsletter after your committee's bi-annual meetings
- Provide a short summary to the board after your committee's bi-annual meeting
- Prepare and solicit opinions and responses on pertinent issues of public health and food safety from our members via our website forum and/or communication channels so that you can represent us on your committee
If you have expertise in this area and would like to volunteer, please complete the following steps: -
Fill out the AVMA committee nomination form available here
- Include a short (up to 2 page) resume or CV.
- Send both to Dr. Waters at executivevp@aafsphv.org.
|
|
|
President-Elect Jane Lewis, DVM, MS, DACVPM |
| Membership and Admissions Committee Seeking Volunteers
This committee shall be responsible for actively recruiting members and determining eligibility for membership. Time commitment: this committee has been inactive and will need to meet via Zoom 1-2 times a month for 3 months to develop a member recruitment and retention strategy. After 3 months, meetings will be as needed. If interested, contact Jane Lewis at jmlvet94@gmail.com |
|
|
|
Experiencing hardship?
The AVMA offers reduced dues or dues exemption for qualified applicants.
To learn more and apply click here |
|
|
|
Not One More Vet offers a variety of resources to support veterinary professionals including micro-grants for those experiencing hardship. To learn more about the resources NOMV features, visit them here.
To learn more about micro-grants, click here. |
|
|
Meet Your Committee Representatives |
|
|
AAFSPHV has designated seats on the Legislative Advisory Committee, the Food Safety Advisory Committee, and the Committee on Antimicrobials. For each committee we nominate a member to serve as the representative and another as the alternate representative. Representatives and alternates can serve a maximum of two 3-year terms. We announce openings for our designated seats and call for nominations when a term is up. |
|
|
Food Safety Advisory Committee Representative
Scott Brooks DVM, MSFS, MPVM, DACVPM |
| Food Safety Advisory Committee Representative Dr. Scott Brooks Dr. Brooks is our new representative to the FSAC for the 2025-2028 term. In his application Dr. Brooks shared his background and the expertise that he will bring to the committee:
“I have over 30 years of food safety expertise related to service as a Public Health Officer in the U.S. Air Force and then in the food industry leading food safety in food service and food processing companies, encompassing the food supply chain from farm through production, distribution, and service. I hold M.S. in Food Science (food microbiology) and Masters of Preventive Veterinary Medicine (food safety epidemiology) degrees in addition to the DVM. I am board certified by ACVPM and served as President of the College as well as the Food Safety SME on the certifying exam committee. I also was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to serve two terms on the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods. I currently advise the food industry as a consultant in farm-to-table food safety, regulatory and risk management topics.”
|
|
|
World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) Webinar:
Fighting antimicrobial resistance in aquaculture - alternatives to the use of antimicrobial agents
Aquaculture, like other animal production practices, relies on the use of antimicrobials to mitigate the effects of infectious diseases. However, the efficacy of these treatments is affected by the accuracy and timing of diagnosis. In addition, the availability of registered antimicrobials for aquaculture is limited, and the effectiveness of existing agents is often compromised by antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
In this context, the aquatic animal health strategy is based on disease prevention. Among these measures, biosecurity plans, early detection of diseases, vaccines and autologous vaccines, the use of prebiotics and probiotics to strengthen animal immunity and genetic improvement in animals for resistance to diseases are recommended. Some of these are considered alternatives to antimicrobials, and their promotion is a key element in combating AMR.
When: 23 July at 9am Pacific Time
Where: Zoom Webinar
Cost: Free CE Hours: This webinar has not been RACE approved To Register for the Webinar: click here |
|
|
Looking for more CE or have a CE event you'd like to share?
View our full calendar here
To share an upcoming event, please email me at editor@aafsphv.org |
|
|
Please follow AAFSPHV on Social Media. We just joined bluesky |
| |
|
AAFSPHV News Brief Vol 5 Iss 14 www.aafsphv.org |
|
|
|
