Weekly News - 03/16/2010
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| Veterinary Advantage would like to thank its sponsors in promoting excellence in animal health sales including Abbott Animal Health, Bovie, IDEXX, Intervet/Schering Plough, Merial, Midmark, Ethicon/Novartis, Sempermed, and UltiCare. |
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Top Stories AVMA releases market data trends, announces initiatives Saddle Up Safely campaign addresses equine diseases in new booklet AVMA CEO responds to USDA decision to eliminate a national animal ID system Dairies launch program to promote care Animal MRSA found in Canada Antibotics discussed in abstract Animal groups pledge money for relief efforts in Haiti |
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Products to Watch Virbac Animal Health introduces Allerderm Spot-On FDA urges pet owners to be A.W.A.R.E. |
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Top Stories |
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AVMA releases market data trends, announces initiatives The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) has posted its most recent membership data on www.avma.org. Among the findings: veterinarians are increasingly seeking board certification as specialists; there are now 79,432 AVMA members, the most ever; and more female than male veterinarians in the United States. For more information on AVMA’s latest membership data and to review a compilation of data from recognized veterinary specialty organizations, visit the AVMA Web site at: http://www.avma.org/reference/marketstats/usvets.asp; http://www.avma.org/reference/marketstats/membership.asp; and/or http://www.avma.org/reference/marketstats/vetspec.asp. For any other information about veterinary medicine, please visit www.avma.org. AVMA recently announced it has partnered with WebMD to launch a pet health community called the Pet Health Exchange. Visitors to the new site can discuss pet health issues with AVMA member veterinarians. More than 20 veterinary Guest Experts are involved in the Healthy Pets Exchange to date. The Guest Experts encourage discussion and help owners ask questions of their pet’s veterinarian to open a dialogue that can lead to the most appropriate diagnosis and treatments for their pets. The link to the new Pet Health Exchange is on the upper right on the www.webmd.com, and you can also visit the new WebMD Health Pet Exchange directly at http://exchanges.webmd.com/pet-health-exchange. AVMA also recently announced a new initiative to help bolster the number of food animal veterinarians in the United States by creating an educational debt relief program for them. The Food Animal Veterinarian Recruitment & Retention Program, a joint effort of the AVMA and its charitable arm, the American Veterinary Medical Foundation, and funded by several industry partners, will provide financial incentives in the form of student loan debt forgiveness for veterinarians who commit to four years of employment in food animal veterinary medicine. Depending on demand and the availability of future funds, the new AVMA program seeks to support about 50 rural food animal veterinarians over the next five years by providing total payments for each practitioner of up to $100,000 that can be applied to student loan debt. |
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Saddle Up Safely campaign addresses equine diseases in new booklet The Saddle Up Safely campaign addresses diseases, clinical signs and professional advice in a new booklet. The five-year campaign is a collaboration of expertise and participation between University of Kentucky and community sponsors and partners. The booklet lists potential zoonotic diseases that can be shared between horses and people and precautions that can be taken to reduce the chances of this occurring. The booklet is the second in a series of educational booklets released by the Saddle Up Safely campaign. |
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AVMA CEO responds to USDA decision to eliminate a national animal ID system In a new video, Dr. Ron DeHaven, chief executive officer of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and a former head of the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, says that a recent decision by the USDA to scrap a national animal identification system and restart the development process could seriously hinder U.S. veterinarians’ ability to track diseased animals and prevent the spread of those diseases, which could spread to humans and cost U.S. farmers millions of dollars. “By having an animal ID program in place, we can more quickly contain and eliminate disease. Doing so not only minimizes the economic impact, but by minimizing the number of animals affected, we reduce animal suffering,” Dr. DeHaven says in the video. “In the case of zoonotic diseases - diseases that can spread from animals to humans - we reduce the potential that the disease will spread to humans.” Dr. DeHaven says that one of the biggest problems with this announcement is that there will be no animal ID system during this new development period, which could take years. The video can be viewed on http://www.avmatv.org, the AVMA Media Library (http://www.avma.org) and YouTube. |
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Dairies launch program to promote care A coalition of dairy groups announced the launch of a statewide program to promote and verify responsible animal care on California’s 1,750 family dairy farms, a report said. The National Dairy FARM Program: Farmers Assuring Responsible Management, is designed to assist farmers in demonstrating their ethical treatment of dairy livestock animals and create consistency of dairy animal care practices across the country. The National Dairy FARM Program contains a comprehensive set of animal care best management practices. Because California’s dairy products are marketed nationally and internationally, California dairy farmers recognize the importance of participating in a nationwide program to ensure national uniformity for customers and consumers, a statement from the organization said. “Actions, not words, are the only way to maintain and build trust with our consumers,” said Jamie Bledsoe, a dairy farmer from Riverdale and co-chair of the Dairy Cares Animal Well-Being Committee. “We’ve always cared for our animals, and now we have a program in place to validate that we care. And in those rare instances when animal care doesn’t measure up, we have a program to identify issues and address them.” |
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Animal MRSA found in Canada A strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) primarily associated with pigs has infected humans in Canada, researchers said in Emerging Infectious Diseases. The strain, called livestock-associated MRSA (LA-MRSA), also referred to as MRSA clonal complex (CC) 398, was first identified colonising pig farmers in the Netherlands in 2005, and has since been found colonising and infecting farmers and livestock across the globe. In the Netherlands, where there is a high density of pig farming, LA-MRSA now accounts for an increasingly high percentage of all newly detected MRSA strains in people, the report said - 42 percent of them at the end of 2008. |
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Antibotics discussed in abstract A short abstract by Nancy E. Halpern, DVM, that ran in the Drake Journal of Agricultural Law, addressed the “current scientific and legal tensions over the use of antibiotics in food animals,” mainly the premise that the use of antibiotics in food animals leads to resistance of the bacteria consumed by humans, which would reduce the effectiveness of antibiotics. In the abstract, Halpern says that when including relevant parameters using a risk assessment tool “it is apparent that the abolishment of antibiotic use in animals, beginning with food animals, creates more potential hazards than have been proven to exist from their continued use … A prohibition on the use of antibiotics in food animals has proven detrimental to both animals and humans in other countries. The benefits of antibiotics used judiciously in animals reduces bacterial contamination of food, minimizes subsequent human exposure, enhances the safety of food and decreases manure production.” |
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Animal groups pledge money for relief efforts in Haiti The Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti (ARCH) announced a $1.1 million agreement with the Haitian government aimed at improving animal welfare conditions and repairing the country’s damaged veterinary capacity in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake of January 12. The coalition was formed by more than 20 of the world’s leading animal welfare groups and is jointly led by the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). The program of work outlined in the agreement includes assisting the government in protecting people and animals from disease outbreaks; labs receiving provisions to carry out targeted vaccination campaigns for Rabies, Anthrax and other diseases; and training Haitian veterinarians and veterinary health workers. The coalition also announced the arrival of a fully-equipped veterinary mobile clinic to Port-au-Prince. The donated unit will support ARCH’s animal rescue efforts that have already treated over 4,000 animals including dogs, cats, goats, cattle, horses, and other animals. |
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Products to Watch |
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Virbac Animal Health introduces Allerderm Spot-On Virbac Animal Health recently introduced Allerderm Spot-On, a topical therapy to help repair and restore the epidermal barrier in canine and feline patients suffering from skin disease. Allerderm contains Skin Lipid Complex, an exclusive blend of ceramides and fatty acids similar to those found in normal, healthy feline and canine skin. |
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FDA urges pet owners to be A.W.A.R.E. According to a recent report from Pet Product News International, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) urged pet owners who shop for prescription pet medicines online to make sure they remain A.W.A.R.E. of exactly what they are buying. To help pet owners protect their pets, the agency provided the following guidelines: A - Ask your veterinarian; W - Watch for red flags; A - Always check for site accreditation; R - Report problems and suspicious online pharmacies; E - Educate yourself about online pharmacies. |
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