YOUR MONTHLY NEWS & UPDATES
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Laboratory Diagnosticians News Matters
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The AAVLD Executive Board had a productive face-to-face meeting on February 7 in Las Vegas, NV. Several items were discussed during the meeting, including a review of the organization’s finances, the current Farm Bill and related NAHLN funding priorities, and our valued partnership with USAHA.
An immediate priority item for us is NAHLN funding in the U.S. Farm Bill. Specifically, we need to preserve existing funding to the NAHLN and work closely with the USDA leaders to set priorities for the new mandatory funding.
The NAHLN serves a critical role in maintaining agricultural animal health and protecting our nation’s food supply. Few can argue with the success of NAHLN.
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Members of the AAVLD leadership team will be meeting with key influencers in Washington D.C. next month to emphasize the need for the full funding of the NAHLN.
I encourage each of you to contact your state’s legislators to express the need to support the NAHLN, so we can continue to build on this strong and proven network of diagnostic laboratories.
(405) 744-6623
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Meet Your AAVLD Executive Board 2019
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Your AAVLD Executive Board recently met for their winter board meeting, February 7
th
in Las Vegas. The board meets each month throughout the year, usually the first week of the month via teleconference. Three times a year they meet face-to-face. The board manages the affairs of the organization which includes management of our budget, preparation for meetings such as the annual meeting, and interacts with federal agencies, stakeholders, and members. They are available and happy to discuss any issues with you regarding Association affairs. Their email contacts are listed below. They are listed by region, but if you have any personal connections with them feel free to cross regional boundaries to initiate discussions. Thank you executive board members for you dedicated service to AAVLD.
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AAVLD Mission, Values and Goals
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Vision: The AAVLD is a world leader in advancing the discipline of veterinary diagnostic laboratory science to promote global animal health and One Health.
Mission : The AAVLD promotes continuous improvement and public awareness of veterinary diagnostic laboratories by advancing the discipline of veterinary diagnostic laboratory science. The AAVLD provides avenues for education, communication, peer-reviewed publication, collaboration, outreach, and laboratory accreditation.
Core values: The AAVLD is committed to these core values:
•Continuous improvement
•Engagement of members
•Effective communication
•Collaboration
•Support of One Health
Goals:
1.Advocate for the role of veterinary diagnostic laboratories in global health
2.Foster the continuous improvement of diagnostic laboratory techniques and processes, personnel qualifications, and facilities
3.Promote the continued professional growth of members
4.Disseminate information concerning the diagnosis/monitoring of animal health and disease surveillance
5.Provide a formal accreditation process for veterinary medical diagnostic laboratories
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Membership renewals due by November 15!
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AAVLD membership is open to any individual interested in animal disease laboratory diagnosis. Memberships run by the calendar year
(January-December)
and membership dues payments are due by November 15th of preceding year to ensure inclusion in the membership directory and receipt of all six issues of JVDI. Note: In order to receive an Annual Meeting registration discounted rate you are required to be a current year AAVLD Member.
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AAVLD Historical Files- Where are they today?
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The First AAVLD Student Awardee:
Dr. Pat Halbur- 1991
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In 1989 the awards committee proposed giving a monetary award for the best student presentation at our annual meeting and in 1991 they officially offered the first award. This award was before the AAVLD Foundation was established and eventually all student awards were turned over to the Foundation Committee and were funded via the generous donations of our members. In 1991, the first AAVLD student awardee was Dr. Pat Halbur, Iowa State University, for his presentation “The pathogenicity of porcine respiratory coronavirus AR310.” PG Halbur, EM Vaughn, PS Paul, and JJ Andrews. Dr. Halbur finished his PhD degree in 1995 and is currently Professor, Chair of the Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine Department and Executive Director of the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at Iowa State University. He was President of AAVLD in 2017.
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Who introduced you to AAVLD?
Dr. John Andrews introduced me to AAVLD. John was my Major Professor and the primary mentor for pathology graduate students at the ISU VDL. Dr. Andrews was very active in AAVLD including serving as President. It seemed like John knew everybody in the organization and at the annual meeting, and through him I immediately became part of an impressive network of diagnosticians across the U.S.
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Were you active in regional AAVLD activities?
Yes, we regularly attended and presented at the Midwest regional meeting. It was a great way to visit other labs and get to know people that served a similar client-base.
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Did your training program provide travel funds for you to attend the national meeting?
The ISU VDL covered the cost of attending the meeting when I was a student. The lab has always understood the great return on investment of sending faculty, staff and graduate students to AAVLD regional and national meetings. As budgets have gotten tighter and the costs of attending meetings has continued to increase, I sincerely appreciate the impact the travel grants provide today. Without them, many students and staff would like not be able to attend.
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Have you encouraged other students to attend AAVLD meetings or become involved in AAVLD since finishing your training?
I explain to students that there are many good professional organizations to consider joining; however, for a diagnostician, no other organization is more relevant than AAVLD. The annual meetings are a “must attend” event for keeping you on the leading edge of the profession and growing your network of colleagues you can depend on when you have diagnostic or research questions.
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Was your first experience attending a national meeting a good one?
I remember being really scared when preparing for and traveling to the meeting to present for the first time. I was only a little more than a year into my pathology graduate training program after returning to ISU following 4 years in private practice. Once at the meeting, I immediately felt welcome and part of the diagnostic medicine profession collectively focused on advancing animal health.
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Do you think AAVLD today is meeting the needs of student attendees?
Yes, I think AAVLD is doing several things to meet the needs of student attendees. The travel awards, the poster and presentation awards, the new member orientation at the beginning of the meeting, and the facilitated opportunities to network are valuable. The partnership we have holding the meeting jointly with USAHA also offers unique opportunities for students to experience important topics in regulatory veterinary medicine.
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Committee work is the foundation of AAVLD's ability to fulfill its mission. If you are interested in joining a committee and contributing to its efforts, please email the appropriate committee chair.
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The goal of JVDI in Focus is to bring attention to an interesting article appearing in the
Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation. This month’s focus is on an article in the upcoming March issue: “Whole genome sequencing confirms source of pathogens associated with bacterial foodborne illness in pets fed raw pet food” by Jennifer L. Jones, Leyi Wang, Olgica Ceric, Sarah M. Nemser, David S. Rotstein, Dominika A. Jurkovic, Yamir Rosa, Beverly Byrum, Jing Cui, Yan Zhang, Cathy A. Brown, Anne L. Burnum, Susan Sanchez, and Renate Reimschuessel.
J Vet Diagn Invest 2019;31(2)
Abstract. Reports of raw meat pet food containing zoonotic foodborne bacteria, including
Salmonella,
Escherichia coli, and
Listeria monocytogenes, are increasing. Contaminated raw pet food and biological waste from pets consuming those diets may pose a public health risk. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Veterinary Laboratory Investigation and Response Network conducted 2 case investigations, involving 3 households with animal illnesses, which included medical record review, dietary and environmental exposure interviews, animal sample testing, and whole genome sequencing (WGS) of bacteria isolated from the pets and the raw pet food. For each case investigation, WGS with core genome multi-locus sequence typing analysis showed that the animal clinical isolates were closely related to one or more raw pet food bacterial isolates. WGS and genomic analysis of paired animal clinical and animal food isolates can confirm suspected outbreaks of animal foodborne illness.
News
JVDI employs the software program
iThenticate to detect plagiarism. From the
U.S. Office of Research Integrity, plagiarism of text is “copying a portion of text from another source without giving credit to its author and without enclosing the borrowed text in quotation marks” and plagiarism of ideas is “appropriating someone else’s idea (e.g., an explanation, a theory, a conclusion, a hypothesis, a metaphor) in whole or in part, or with superficial modifications without giving credit to its originator.” Detection of plagiarized material in any manuscript will result in its immediate rejection, regardless of its scientific merit. The author’s institution may be notified.
Questions or comments?
Contact Holly Farrell, editorial@aavld.org
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AAVLD Members/Labs in the news
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Auditor training was provided on Wednesday February 6, 2019 at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas. A total of 51 participants and 17 Accreditation Committee Members attended the training. 23 Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratories from the US and Canada were represented. Topics included The AAVLD Accreditation site visit procedures, a detailed look at the AAVLD Requirements (lecture and workshop), A 10,000 ft. view of the upcoming revision to the AAVLD Standard, Auditing and Auditing Techniques (lecture and workshop), and Writing Non-conformances (lecture and workshop).
The training was well received with attendance up from last year. Evaluations for the event were collected and are in the process of being analyzed.
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President Keith Bailey and Vice President Shuping Zhang at AAVLD Executive Board Meeting
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The 2019 AAVLD Executive Board meeting in Las Vegas
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Dr. Swinford, Dr. Hill and Dr. Snekvik are collaborating at the winter board meeting in Las Vegas
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Secretary-Treasurer Kristy Pabilonia
with Administrative Assistant Reda Ozuna
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AAVLD Website Update
The AAVLD website has content that is needed by, and useful to members, the Accreditation Committee, JVDI/publications, other standing & special committees and other interested parties. However, the current version went live in 2012 and over the years, as more and more content was added, it has become difficult to navigate and easily find what is needed. Therefore, the Executive Board has formed a Website Task Force to investigate, plan and guide an update/makeover of the organization website to make it easier to find and use the information and services available there. One of the first Website Task Force tasks will be to survey members on the issues they encounter on the current website, and what features are needed, and those wanted in the new website.
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KEY DEADLINES FOR THE ANNUAL MEETING
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Calendar these dates:
AAVLD Nominations for VP and Regions
Do you have ideas to improve AAVLD annual meeting?
Would you like to sponsor an event?
Would you like to donate an item for the
Foundation Auction?
What ever your contribution to the AAVLD mission, we need you!
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Providence, Rhode Island
HERE WE COME !
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Dr. Deepanker Tewari, announces 2019 AAVLD annual meeting soon will hit full swing!
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2019 AAVLD annual meeting planning has already started and very soon will hit full swing. As the Program Chair, I encourage the members to reach out to me or our Executive Director, Dr Zeman with suggestions to improve your experience for the upcoming meeting. For those of you who will be attending the meeting first time, the meeting offers an excellent professional social networking opportunity besides offering a great learning experience.
For the AAVLD plenary session this year, we are trying to focus on “Advances in diagnostics and its impact on One Health mission”. We will keep you posted as we line up the speakers and the program but if you have suggestions for the speakers, please send your suggestions to me, as this is not only opportunity to learn but also showcase major progress or advances in our field. Also, for the USAHA plenary session on Monday morning, both AAVLD and USAHA teams are working together to see if a better format can be accommodated, considering the length of our joint meeting lasts and how busy the sessions are each day.
More updates to follow soon about the meeting and pre-meeting symposia. I hope you will plan to attend, and be part of the meeting this coming year!!
With best wishes,
Deepanker Tewari
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FDA Vet-LIRN Feed Contaminant and Laboratory Capacity Survey
The FDA Veterinary Laboratory Investigation and Response Network (Vet-LIRN) has a mission to promote human and animal health by collaborating with veterinary diagnostic laboratories in order to provide scientific information, build laboratory capacity for routine and emergency response, and train scientists to help the Center for Veterinary Medicine to investigate potential problems with CVM regulated products, animal feeds and animal drugs.
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To help assess the degree of contamination of animal feeds and the ability of veterinary diagnostic laboratories to respond to routine and emergency needs for feed analysis, the CVM periodically performs confidential surveys of those laboratories. The last such feed contamination survey was performed in 2012 and provided valuable information on chemical contamination of animal feeds between 2007 and 2012. The current survey will assess chemical and microbial contamination of animal feeds that have been submitted to veterinary diagnostic laboratories, and those reported in the literature, from 2012 to the present. In addition, a survey will help determine the capabilities and capacity of those laboratories. The electronic survey will be distributed to the Directors of veterinary diagnostic laboratories in the U.S. and Canada later this spring/summer. Results of the surveys will be aggregated by USDA VS Districts to maintain anonymity and client confidentiality.
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UPDATE: Virulent Newcastle Disease in California
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For the period May 15, 2018 through January 30, 2019, the United States Department of Food and Agriculture (USDA) has confirmed 362 cases of virulent Newcastle disease (vND) in California, primarily in backyard exhibition birds. Cases have been diagnosed in San Bernardino, Riverside, Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. vND was also detected between December 14, 2018 and January 31, 2019, in four commercial chicken flocks and in a backyard/non-commercial layer flock in Riverside County, via routine surveillance testing. Three of the commercial flocks and the backyard/non-commercial flocks have been depopulated. Depopulation plans are underway for the fourth commercial flock. The presence of vND was also recently confirmed in a small flock of backyard exhibition chickens in Spanish Fork, Utah. This is the first case of vND in Utah, and is likely traced to the current outbreak of the disease in Southern California. CAHFS continues working with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), the United States Department of Agriculture in the eradication of vND. Stringent biosecurity measures are paramount to prevent spread of vND. For more information, please refer to CDFA’s website or call the Sick Bird Hotline at 866-922-2473.
Source: CAHFS Newsletter
NOTE from Ashley Hill CAHFS:
CAHFS has relied on the NAHLN throughout the vND outbreak. With NAHLN support, both Oregon State University and Colorado State University sent experienced staff to California to assist in whatever capacity was needed.
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Kenneth K. Keahey Obituary - East Lansing, MI
Kenneth Keahey, DVM, the love of Norlyne's life, beloved Dad and cherished Bapa, passed away at home on April 11, 2018 at age 94 after a long illness. Ken was born on September 17, 1923 in Covington, OK to Boyd and Ona (Isenhower) Keahey and...
Read more
www.dignitymemorial.com
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People don't notice whether it's winter or summer when they're happy.
Anton Chekhov
No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.
Hal Borland
Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt. Dance like nobody's watching.
Satchel Paige
Source:
Brainy Quote
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USAHA/AAVLD Gov. Relations Mtg. – week of March 17, 2019 Washington DC
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- USAHA/AAVLD Gov. Relations Mtg. – week of March 18-21, 2019 Washington DC
- 18th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Animal Health Laboratorians Network (CAHLN) to be held in Saint-Hyacinthe at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the Université de Montréal from May 26-29, 2019.
- The 19th International Symposium of the World Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (ISWAVLD 2019) 19-22 June 2019, The Empress Hotel and Convention Centre, Chiang Mai, Thailand
- AVMA Convention, August 2 – 6, 2019, Washington DC
- AAVLD Annual Meeting - Providence Rhode Island, October 24 – 28 2019 Providence Rhode Island.
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2019 CAHLN Annual Meeting
18th CAHLN Annual Meeting " The last frontier in veterinary diagnostic; applied genomic and high throughput sequencing " It is with great pleasure that we invite you to the 18th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Animal Health Laboratorians Network...
Read more
cahln-rctlsa.com
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AAVLD Foundation Committee
John Adaska - Chair
Donal O'Toole
Tim Baszler
David Zeman
Christie Mayo
Kristy Pabilonia
Beate Crossley
François Elvinger
Pat Halbur
Brett Webb
Jamie Henningson
Kerry Sondgeroth
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The AAVLD Foundation is a non-profit foundation that aims to raise funds for the advancement of veterinary diagnostics through scholarship programs, guest lectures, seminars, awards and research programs. Contributions to the Foundation are tax-exempt 501(c)(3), and can be added to your membership dues.
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