CAHFS’ Core Mission and How it Supports the Dairy Industry
Adapted by Dr. Patricia Blanchard, Associate Director, CAHFS
The primary mission of the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System (CAHFS) – a public service program of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine - is to detect and diagnose incursions of foreign and emerging animal diseases, diseases of high consequence and toxic events involving animals. However, to accomplish this mission, CAHFS must have a robust laboratory system in place so that experienced personnel and appropriate test methods required to detect and respond to a foreign animal outbreak or toxic event are immediately available. This ongoing competency and laboratory infrastructure is ensured by the day-to-day performance of routine necropsies and a wide range of tests for common diseases and health screening for nutritional status and proof of freedom from disease for movement. In performing our daily work, CAHFS may identify evidence that suggests a foreign disease or toxic event through an animal’s clinical history or necropsy.
Many endemic diseases can cause oral lesions in cattle which can appear like foreign animal diseases. For example, the most commonly investigated potential Foot and Mouth disease (FMD) cases in dairy cattle are usually Bovine Papular Stomatitis (BPS), a parapox virus. However, BPS can cause ulcers instead of raised pox lesions which could look like FMD. The American form of Malignant catarrhal fever, a rare disease seen sporadically in dairy and beef cattle, is caused by an ovine herpesvirus-2, but the disease looks identical to the African form of MCF carried by wildebeests. In 2008, a beef sale in Texas resulted in several purchased heifers that were moved to other states becoming ill and dying from the African form of MCF. A state and federal investigation revealed a group of 135 bred heifers had been housed adjacent to a pasture with a long established herd of wildebeests. For reasons like this incidence, when a disease which can look like a foreign animal disease is detected, a trained foreign animal disease diagnostician from the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) or the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) performs a farm investigation and the necropsy samples and samples collected from live animals on the farm are tested at both a USDA and CAHFS laboratories. CAHFS is able to perform official screening tests within six hours for 11 viral diseases which include nine endemic “look-alike diseases” including BPS and Bovine viral diarrhea (BVD), Bluetongue virus, American MCF, as well as, FMD and Vesicular Stomatitis. The importance of these types of investigations involving CDFA and USDA, the veterinarian and animal owner, is for California and the nation to demonstrate to our global trading partners that we are performing due diligence to investigate potential foreign animal disease incursions. This work helps guarantee our export markets remain open and that a foreign animal disease is identified as early as possible.
On occasion, CAHFS receives animals from premises where numerous animals have died or become ill in a very short period of time without evidence of an infectious cause. A thorough clinical history combined with necropsy findings can often narrow the likely cause to a toxin exposure. CAHFS toxicology laboratory has one of the most extensive menus of test methods available nationally and provides confirmatory testing of toxins in animal samples and feed. When needed, the toxicology section can also test for the toxin in milk or meat. By regulation pursuant to section 9101 of CDFA code, “..any toxicology condition likely to contaminate animals or animal products (meat, milk or eggs)” is reportable to CDFA. This reporting allows CDFA to investigate in order to ensure no toxins enter the human food supply and, when necessary, to trace the source of the toxin and sales of the tainted product if it was a commercially available animal feed.
CAHFS’ critical partnership with producers, veterinarians, CDFA and USDA will continue to allow us to detect foreign and emerging diseases and toxic events early so that intervention and control efforts can be initiated. This is a valuable resource for animal owners, veterinarians and the general public ensuring safe animal feed and human food and ensuring our export markets remain open.
For information on services offered by CAHFS, visit http://cahfs.ucdavis.edu/
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