Antimicrobial resistance: a microbial risk assessment perspective.
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The emergence of antimicrobial-resistant microorganisms in both humans and food animals is a growing concern. Debate has centred on links between antimicrobial use in the production of food animals and the emergence of resistant organisms in the human population. Consequently, microbial risk assessment (MRA) is being used to facilitate scientific investigations of the risks related to the food chain, including quantification of uncertainty and prioritization of control strategies. MRA is a scientific tool that can be used to evaluate the level of exposure and the subsequent risk to human health relating to a specific organism or particular type of resistance. This paper reviews the recent applications of MRA in the area of antimicrobial resistance, and in particular, it focuses on the methods, assumptions and data limitations. Since MRA outputs are dependent on the quality of data inputs used in their development, we aim to promote the generation of good quality data by describing the properties that data should ideally possess for MRA and by highlighting the benefit of data generation specifically for inclusion in MRAs. (+info)
Compendium of animal rabies prevention and control, 2004: National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians, Inc. (NASPHV).
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Rabies is a fatal viral zoonosis and a serious public health problem. The purpose of this compendium is to provide information to veterinarians, public health officials, and others concerned with rabies prevention and control. These recommendations serve as the basis for animal rabies-control programs throughout the United States and facilitate standardization of procedures among jurisdictions, thereby contributing to an effective national rabies-control program. This document is reviewed annually and revised as necessary. Parenteral vaccination procedure recommendations are contained in Part I; Part II details the principles of rabies control; all animal rabies vaccines licensed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and marketed in the United States are listed in Part III. (+info)
Pet animals as reservoirs of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria.
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Pet animal numbers have substantially increased in modern society and attention is increasingly devoted to pet welfare. Because of these changes, antimicrobial agents are frequently used in small animal veterinary practice, often including antimicrobial preparations used in human medicine, with heavy use of broad-spectrum agents such as aminopenicillins plus clavulanic acid, cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones. Several longitudinal studies conducted at veterinary hospitals have indicated that resistance to various antimicrobial agents has emerged amongst pet animal isolates of Staphylococcus intermedius, Escherichia coli and other bacteria, including species with a potential for zoonotic transmission and resistance phenotypes of clinical interest, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin-resistant enterococci and multidrug-resistant Salmonella Typhimurium DT104. Based on a review of the current literature, the role of pets in the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance has been given little attention when compared with that of food animals. A marked contrast is evident between the current policies on antimicrobial usage in food and companion animals. Apart from a few countries where limited data on antimicrobial usage and occurrence of resistance in bacteria from pet animals are provided, national surveillance programmes only focus on food animals. However, data on pet animals are clearly needed for guiding antimicrobial use policy in small animal veterinary practice as well as for assessing the risk of transmission of antimicrobial resistance to humans. (+info)
Q fever in Ireland. A seroprevalence study of exposure to Coxiella burnettii among Department of Agriculture workers.
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OBJECTIVES: To estimate the risk of exposure to Coxiella burnettii among 'at risk' workers in Ireland. METHODS: A cross-sectional seroprevalence study, using the complement fixation technique (CFT), was carried out among technical and support staff of the Department of Agriculture in Ireland (n = 375). Participants were divided into low- (n = 34), moderate- (n = 158) and high-risk (n = 83) groups according to the likelihood of occupational exposure. A result of <1:8 on CFT was accepted as normal, i.e. no evidence of past exposure to the causative organism, C. burnettii. Participants with titres of 1:16 were clinically assessed for evidence of past or present infection and interviewed regarding the possibility of non-occupational exposure. RESULTS: The participation rate was 75% (n = 281). Overall, 24 of the 281 participants (8.5%, 95% confidence interval = 5.6-12.4%) tested positive (titres = 1:8). No statistically significant difference existed between the three groups (low, 8.8%; moderate, 9.5%; high, 7.2%). Of those reviewed (n = 10), no evidence of either past or present clinically significant illness was detected. Possible non-occupational exposure was identified in two cases. CONCLUSION: Laboratory evidence of past exposure to Q fever is common amongst readily identifiable 'at risk' occupational groups in Ireland, and appropriate preventative steps are warranted. Employees who do not have direct exposure to animals or animal products, but who work in a high risk environment appear to have a similar risk of exposure C. burnettii. Although clinical illness appears to be rare, health care workers should consider the possibility of Q fever in cases of unexplained illness arising in those working in 'high risk' environments. (+info)
Veterinary medicine books recommended for academic libraries.
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This bibliography of in-print veterinary medical books published in English may be used as an acquisitions or evaluation tool for developing the monograph component of new veterinary medicine collections or existing science, technology, and medicine collections where veterinary medicine is in the scope of the collection. The bibliography is divided into 34 categories and consists of bibliographic information for 419 titles. The appendix contains an author/editor index. Prices for all entries are in US dollars, except where another currency is noted. The total cost of all books in the bibliography is $43,602.13 (US). (+info)
Javelin diagrams: applications in veterinary medical decision analysis.
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This paper introduces javelin diagrams as an innovative way for depicting the results of medical decision analyses. The methods were used to determine whether, and at which values, blood lactate in Belgian White and Blue or maximum tidal volumes in Holstein calves should be measured before deciding to treat or not a calf suffering from the bovine respiratory disease complex. The different alternatives depended upon the probabilities of survival with and without treatment and upon the costs associated with a possible death, the test and the treatment. The chosen alternative was the one with the lowest expected costs. From data collected on the treated calves, the expected costs of measuring lactate (198.01 euro) and tidal volumes (27.38 euro) before deciding to treat or not were lower than the expected costs of directly treating sick Belgian Blue (215.39 euro) and Holstein (51.55 euro) calves, respectively. The treatment should be applied to sick Belgian Blue calves with blood lactate < or = 7.8 mmol/L and to Holstein calves with a maximum tidal volume > or = 1.81 L. At such test values, the treatment expected costs were lower than the expected costs associated with no treatment of calves with other test values. Probabilistic sensitivity analyses showing benefits in treating animals with a positive test (over not treating the animals with a negative test) were mostly invariant to changes in any cost value but were sensitive to uncertainties in probabilities of survival with or without treatment. The javelin diagrams provided a clear visual indication of such results. They depicted how and by how much the benefits were affected by uncertainties in probabilities, they proposed different information values associated with the chosen alternative, and identified directions for further research. (+info)
Veterinary medicine in the 21st century: the challenge of biosecurity.
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The veterinary profession is presently challenged with developing and maintaining on-farm biosecurity protocols to protect the nation's food supply from acts of bioterrorism, from the growing threat of foreign animal diseases, and from multidrug resistance among pathogenic organisms. This challenge comes at a time when the supply of food animal veterinarians in the United States is progressively in decline, and raises the possibility that the profession is not adequately prepared to fulfill its responsibilities to the health and productivity of the US livestock and poultry populations. Causes of the decline in demand for veterinary services are discussed. They include consolidation of the food animal industries and a trend toward transferring performance of tasks traditionally carried out by veterinarians to the province of lay staff. This development potentially reduces veterinary surveillance of food animal populations. It also runs the risk of delay in recognizing and controlling serious health problems when they arise. Several remedies are proposed, including profound changes in the curriculum for educating food animal veterinarians to serve the consolidated but vulnerable livestock and poultry industries suitably. Also advocated is the initiation of training programs for herdsmen on the symptoms of foreign animal diseases, together with advice on when to call a veterinarian. Significant investment of federal or state resources will be required if these changes are to become reality. (+info)
Standards for the academic veterinary medical library.
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The Standards Committee of the Veterinary Medical Libraries Section was appointed in May 2000 and charged to create standards for the ideal academic veterinary medical library, written from the perspective of veterinary medical librarians. The resulting Standards for the Academic Veterinary Medical Library were approved by members of the Veterinary Medical Libraries Section during MLA '03 in San Diego, California. The standards were approved by Section Council in April 2005 and received final approval from the Board of Directors of the Medical Library Association during MLA '04 in Washington, DC. (+info)