Eric Burrough, DVM, PhD

The annual meeting is rapidly approaching, and I would like to thank all those who have already submitted their abstracts for consideration as oral or poster presentations at the meeting. We understand that people may still be working on their abstracts or may have late-breaking data to share, and we are therefore extending the deadline for consideration to June 30, 2022. We trust that laboratories will take full advantage of this extra time.

Funded by the USDA National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program (NADPRP), a multidisciplinary group representing AAVLD, NAHLN, industry, and SAHOs held a 2-day discovery meeting in Madison, Wisconsin on May 19^th and 20^th . The NADPRP funded project will develop a bovine germplasm movement plan (BGMP) to maintain intra- and interstate movement of semen, embryos, and high genomic merit cattle in the event of an FAD, specifically foot and mouth disease.

The core team was led by Keith Poulsen, Director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and Danelle Bickett-Weddle, CEO of Preventalytics and includes Ailam Lim (WVDL), Darlene Konkle, Wisconsin State Veterinarian, and Charles Brown II from PEAK Genetics. They assembled a working group from 14 different states and 2 Canadian Provinces to discuss the current state of the bovine semen and embryo industries as well as the diagnostic testing and regulatory movement barriers that would occur in an FMD outbreak in North America.

The meeting was attended by 31 people in-person and 18 virtual attendees with joint sessions followed by break-out working groups. The working groups identified gaps and tasks to develop a guidance plan to maintain beef and dairy breeding programs and North American genetics as global leaders. We were fortunate enough to have industry sponsors for food and beverage and want to show our appreciation to PEAK, ABS, ST Genetics, TransOva, Semex, and Sunshine Genetics. Overall, the hybrid meeting was well received and the core team received great feedback including this quote from an industry stakeholder participant:

The stakeholder groups will meet virtually to follow up on tasks with in-person opportunities at AAVLD/USAHA meetings in 2022 and 2023. The core group aims to exercise a draft plan late in 2023.

Take a moment to review historical newsletter laboratory news stories by going to the newsletter archives click here

Veterans are a symbol of what makes our nation great, and we must never forget all they have done to ensure our freedom.

Rodney Frelinghuysen

Veterans report that service dogs help break their isolation. People will often avert their eyes when they see a wounded veteran. But when the veteran has a dog, the same people will come up and say, 'Hi' to pet the dog and then strike up a conversation.

Al Franken

Because all of us believe and understand in the fabric of the common bond of why we call ourselves American is to care for the men and women who wear the uniform; and when they take off the uniform, we care for them when they are veterans.

Steve Buyer

J Vet Diagn Invest 2022;34(3). https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10406387221084054

Abstract. Senecavirus A (SVA) infection in pigs causes vesicular disease and results in a short viremia and transient shedding of the virus, mainly in oral fluids and feces. Here we describe the consistent prolonged shedding of SVA in the semen of 2 boars, and persistence of SVA within the tonsils and testes of 3 adult boars. Two SVA-infected boars that were identified on a Minnesota sow farm in 2017 shed SVA RNA in semen for >3 mo after an outbreak of vesicular disease had occurred on the farm. SVA was isolated from 1 semen sample collected 9 d after clinical disease began on the farm. The third SVA-infected boar was identified on an Indiana sow farm in 2020. All boars had SVA RNA detected in the testes and tonsils by RT-rtPCR, with lower Ct values obtained for the testes than from the tonsils. All boars had multifocal lymphocytic orchitis with segmental degeneration and atrophy of the germinal epithelium within the seminiferous tubules. One boar also had areas of seminiferous tubule collapse and interstitial fibrosis within the testes. In all boars, in situ hybridization demonstrated the presence of SVA mRNA within cells located basally in the seminiferous tubules of the testes, and within the basal surface epithelial cells, crypt epithelial cells, and subepithelial and parafollicular lymphocytes and histiocytes of the tonsil.

Figures 1–4. Senecavirus A infection of testes in a domestic pig. Figure 1. Unaffected normal testicular tissue in boar 4. H&E. Figure 2. Higher magnification from Figure 1. Unaffected normal seminiferous tubule with orderly maturation of the germinal epithelium. H&E. Figure 3. Lobules of seminiferous tubules with multifocal lymphocytic orchitis, segmental degeneration and atrophy of the germinal epithelium, with tubular dilation or collapse, and interstitial fibrosis in boar 4. H&E. Figure 4. Higher magnification from Fig. 3. Centrally, infiltrates of lymphocytes surround a collapsed seminiferous tubule devoid of Sertoli cells and germinal epithelium, with increased collagen in the adjacent interstitium.

Be sure to sign up for JVDI email alerts! JVDI alerts let you know when new articles and eTOCs are available online. Alerts can be requested on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Note that only abstracts are available via email alerts—you will need to login through AAVLD or your institution to access and read the full articles.

Signing up for email alerts is simple.

1. Go to the JVDI website: https://journals.sagepub.com/home/vdi

2. On the Stay Connected tab dropdown menu, click on Email Alerts

3. Choose New Content and/or Announcements, then Create Email Alert

4. Then “Sign into SAGE Journals”

If you already have a SAGE account, use the left box My Account. Otherwise, click Register for a free SAGE Journals account. (You will be able to update your email alerts anytime and will see the message “Your email alert settings have been updated” at completion.)

To access this feature, go to www.aavld.org -> Login -> Resources -> CE Resources and Archives

Credit video to 'Don't Blink'

The American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians offers the top jobs available in Veterinary diagnostic labs. Search and apply to open positions or post jobs on the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians now.

Contact: rozuna@aavld.org

Please select 'Renew Now' to access the Lapsed Membership renewal form. www.aavld.org ->Quick Links->Renew Now->here you can access the Lapsed Membership Form.

The generous contributions and participation by our Exhibitors and Sponsors is a huge part of our conference success year after year. On behalf of the AAVLD, we would like to thank these companies for their commitment to our organization and helping us to achieve our mission.

Go to AAVLD Foundation Auction More details ...