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Two more states join national disease reporting systemAll but six states are now actively participating in the National Animal Health Reporting System, according to a report presented at a meeting of the Committee on Animal Health Information Systems in Minneapolis recently. The committee is a joint effort of the U.S. Animal Health Association and the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians. According to the report, only Connecticut, Georgia, Iowa, Missouri, New Mexico and Rhode Island are non-participants to date. Under NAHRS, state animal health officials report on a monthly basis on the occurrence or non-occurrence of specific diseases listed by the World Organization for Animal Health. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service uses this information in a number of different ways. The data provides the basis for the annual report that the United States is obligated to make to OIE. The information also supports trade negotiations and is useful in providing access for U.S. animal agriculture products in world markets. The NAHRS "Online Reporting Application," which was developed and implemented in 2005, has greatly simplified animal disease reporting procedures. This has led to consistent 12-month reporting by all 44 reporting states. The Committee also heard a report on a recently released "Surveillance and Data Standards" document by APHIS. This document will guide all APHIS Veterinary Services national and regional surveillance planning, development, implementation, operation and evaluation. It provides guidelines on types and formats of data to be collected, as well as for proper data entry, storage and structuring of data systems for integration with existing and future databases. APHIS also is developing a system to facilitate the collection of sample information and other data by field personnel so that it subsequently can be seamlessly transmitted to laboratory, state and federal databases. The Committee also heard about new techniques to improve animal disease detection, including increased use of automated sampling/processing/testing/reporting devices--such as PCR-based "sniffers." It was noted that while properly designed surveillance systems can provide a wealth of information on the overall health status of animal populations, early detection of specific diseases still depends on hands-on discovery. Date: 10/20/06
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