USAHA News United States Animal Health Association Contact - Larry Mark - (703) 451-3954 - webmaster@usaha.org Importance of Surveillance for Animal Diseases to Be Featured at 108th USAHA Annual Meeting Oct. 21-27 Richmond, Va. - Sept. 3, 2004 -- The importance of surveillance for animal diseases, including surveillance for diseases that are emerging or foreign to the United States, will be the theme of the scientific session at the 108th annual meeting of the United States Animal Health Association (USAHA) in Greensboro, N.C., Oct. 21-27. The USAHA meeting will be held in conjunction with the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (AAVLD). A joint USAHA/AAVLD plenary session on Oct. 25 is entitled "Animal Disease Surveillance: Response, Reaction and Trade." It will address the importance of animal disease surveillance for early identification and response, ensuring public health, and facilitating fair trade in animal and animal products. Featured speakers include keynote speaker Dr. Alex Thiermann, President of the Animal Health Standards Commission of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE); Dr. Brian Evans, Chief Veterinary Officer for Canada; Dr. Lonnie King, Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Michigan State University; Dr. Wayne Martin, Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Guelph; Dr. Juergen Richt, Veterinary Medical Officer at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Animal Disease Center, Ames, Iowa; and Dr. David Suarez, Veterinary Medical Officer at the USDA Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory, Athens, Ga. Topics at this special plenary session include bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow disease, avian influenza, and several aspects of surveillance, both from a national and global perspective. At the meeting, USAHA's 32 standing committees will meet to develop policies and procedures to combat a wide variety of animal diseases, including brucellosis, tuberculosis, Johne's disease, pseudorabies, salmonella, rabies and chronic wasting disease (CWD) of deer and elk.. Committees will also address issues surrounding a national animal identification system, import-export regulations, animal welfare, wildlife diseases and international trade. Because of the high interest in a national animal identification system, the Committee on Livestock Identification will hold an expanded all-day session on Oct. 26, according to USAHA president Dr. Don Lein, retired head of the New York State Animal Health Diagnostic Laboratory at Cornell University. Heading the agenda for that session is development of program standards for a national system. Making sure a national animal identification system ensures confidentiality and that costs will not be borne by the livestock industry are key components that will be addressed during the committee's deliberations. Dr. Lein said other topics that will receive special attention at this year's annual meeting include bioterrorism, BSE, protecting public health from newly emerging diseases that are transmissible from animals to humans, and ensuring that global trade of animal and animal products relies on science-based principles. Dr. Lein said the meeting should attract a large number of veterinarians, livestock producers and others concerned with animal health. "We hope we can meet or beat last year's record-breaking crowd of more than 1,100 people," he said. The USAHA annual meeting is open to animal health officials, producers, practicing veterinarians, scientists, laboratory officials, allied organizations and others with an interest in these subjects. For information on registration and a copy of the program, call (804) 285-3210 or check the USAHA Web site at www.usaha.org. A number of allied industry organizations will also hold special sessions during the joint USAHA/AALVD annual meeting. These groups include livestock organizations as well as groups representing food hygiene veterinarians, state meat and food inspectors, extension veterinarians, avian pathologists, and federal veterinarians. USAHA is a national non-profit organization working with state and federal animal health officials, veterinarians, livestock producers, national livestock and poultry organizations, and research scientists to prevent and control animal diseases in the United States. Diseases are the producer's greatest enemy. USAHA's goal is to combat diseases that cost ranchers, farmers and consumers about $1 billion per year. Information on USAHA and the tentative agenda for the 2003 meeting is available on the Internet (www.usaha.org) - 30 - Note to Editors: News releases, committee reports, resolutions, speeches and other documents from the 2003 meeting will be posted on the Web (http://www.usaha.org) during and immediately after the meeting. For news releases, click on the "news" link on the USAHA home page.