Focus On

Outbreaks of diseases like foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in free regions can be devastating. So how does a state like Kansas, sitting at the center of the United States and one of the top 5 states for livestock production, prepare for emergency outbreak situations?

For the last few years, countries in the European neighbourhood have been affected by various disease occurrences, such as foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) epidemics in North Africa, raising onward risks for disease-free countries in Europe.

Here we present Dr Peter Schaufuss, Veterinarian, Specialist in Microbiology, Head of Production, Serumwerk Memsen, WDT, Germany; Dr Ursula Groner, Veterinarian, Serumwerk Memsen, WDT, Germany, in interview with the Intergovernmental Veterinary Health team, MSD Animal Health.

The persistent degradation of animal productivity from endemic foot and mouth disease (FMD) has disproportionate impacts on the rural poor. Ashley Railey and Tiziana Lembo discuss the challenges, approaches and importance of targeted vaccination in eastern Africa.

African swine fever is no doubt one of the major animal health challenges worldwide. In today’s globalized world, any country with a pig or wild boar population could be next and should consider itself at imminent risk.

Canine transmitted rabies has plagued the Earth since antiquity. The target date for the global elimination of this disease has been set by the international community at 2030.

I graduated from Onderstepoort in 1973. Having been raised on a farm in a dairying district, I was aware of the annual immunisation of cows against lumpy skin disease (LSD).

For the second year, MSD Animal Health was pleased to be the sponsor for the World Rabies Day Awards in partnership with the Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC).

Influenza viruses occur naturally in many wild birds and, periodically, some of these ‘spill over’ into poultry, pigs, and humans. The winter of 2016/17 has seen widespread occurrence of a new strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza in many countries in Eurasia, with spread even to southern Africa.

Lumpy skin disease expert Pip Beard, the Pirbright Institute, gives a comprehensive summary of what we know to date about lumpy skin disease, including its impact and control options.