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CDC: Smallpox vaccine can prevent monkeypox | |
Prairie dog sales banned as investigation expands to 15 states | |
| Thursday, June 12, 2003 Posted: 9:14 AM EDT (1314 GMT) | |
| ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- The U.S. government moved aggressively to contain the first outbreak of monkeypox in the Western Hemisphere, prohibiting imports of African rodents, banning the sale of prairie dogs, and recommending smallpox shots for people exposed to monkeypox. | |
| The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the measures Wednesday, the same day federal investigators searched for infected prairie dogs in eight more states, bringing the total to 15. | |
| The smallpox vaccine can prevent monkeypox -- an exotic African disease that has spread from prairie dogs to humans -- up to two weeks after exposure to the virus, but is most effective in the first four days. | |
| "We're optimistic we can deliver the vaccine to these people in time to do good," said Dr. David Fleming, the CDC's deputy director for Public Health and Science. | |
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[Wisconsin] State officials reject fighting monkeypox with smallpox vaccine | |
| 11:20 PM 6/11/03 | |
| Patricia Simms Health reporter, Wisconsin State Journal | |
| As the number of people with possible monkeypox rose to more than 50, federal public health officials Wednesday recommended the smallpox vaccination for those exposed to infected pet prairie dogs and rodents. | |
| Wisconsin public health officials said no. | |
| "Although the smallpox vaccine is known to provide some immunity against monkeypox, the smallpox vaccine has the potential for serious side effects such as encephalitis and heart problems," said Herb Bostrom, director of the state Bureau of Communicable Diseases. "In addition, the CDC has not provided final guidance on this experimental use of smallpox vaccine." | |
| The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wednesday said smallpox vaccine is 85 percent effective against monkeypox. | |
| The CDC has confirmed nine human cases of the disease - four in Wisconsin, four in Indiana and one in Illinois. Possible cases included 23 in Indiana, 21 in Wisconsin, six in Illinois and one in New Jersey. | |
| In related developments: | |
| Wisconsin officials said they were tracking other animals such as wallabies and gerbils that Phil's Pocket Pets of Villa Park, Ill. - the distributor of the infected prairie dogs - may have shipped to Wisconsin. | |
| Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson ordered a ban on importing all rodents from Africa and interstate sale of Gambian rats, tree squirrels and four other types of large African rodents. A Gambian rat is believed to have spread the virus to prairie dogs | |
| A CDC official said a mortality rate from 1 percent to 10 percent - as in Africa - should be expected in the United States. "We need to be prepared for the fact that monkey pox can be a fatal disease," said CDC deputy director David Fleming. | |
| Wisconsin agriculture officials said exposed animals can be quarantined at home. Five of the approximately 28 prairie dogs initially infected with monkeypox in Wisconsin remain alive, said Donna Gilson. | |
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ISU ag college to slash $1.8 million from budget | |
| By JERRY PERKINS | |
| Des Moines Register Farm Editor | |
| 06/12/2003 | |
| Iowa State University's College of Agriculture is being forced to cut spending by $1.8 million to offset state funding shortfalls, extending budget cuts to a fourth year and jeopardizing ISU's standing as one of the nation's premiere sources of agricultural research and education, officials said Wednesday. | |
| The cuts include the closing of two of Iowa State"s best-known research farms in Rhodes and Atlantic and the shuttering of the Iowa State dairy farm in Ames, where generations of Iowans have learned the fine points of dairy production. | |
| "Nobody likes to make these difficult decisions," Catherine Woteki, dean of ISU's College of Agriculture, said Wednesday. "We needed to make them to strengthen our programs and maintain our outstanding research and education." | |
| Many ISU departments have been forced to make cuts to accommodate a $7 million cut in state appropriations for fiscal 2004. It's the fourth straight year the Legislature has reduced spending, cutting the university's budget by more than $68.8 million. | |
| The ag college's state appropriation this fiscal year is about $53 million. | |
| News of the cuts, while not a complete surprise, sent shock waves across the Ames campus and through the farm, food and agribusiness communities that rely on Iowa State for scientific discoveries, technological advances, diagnostic testing and skilled workers. | |
| "I'm deeply troubled" by the cuts, said Neil Harl, a prominent ISU Extension economist who first studied at Iowa State in 1951 and has taught there for decades. "This is as grim a time as the institution has faced." | |
| Craig Lang, president of the Iowa Farm Bureau, said farm leaders were concerned about the continuing cuts. | |
| "A lot of what we farmers need comes out of Iowa State"s research," Lang said. "The College of Agriculture also does food safety research that benefits consumers and also works on rural development." | |
| The cuts announced Wednesday are expected to have a lasting impact, Harl and others said. Research funding will disappear. New talent will be harder to recruit and retain. | |
| "If you're starting your career, you don't want to start someplace where the future doesn't look bright," said Walter Fehr, an ISU Extension agronomist who heads ISU's Office of Biotechnology. | |
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Is Soybean Rust Too Close For Comfort?Plant Pathologists To Discuss The Potential Impact This Devastating Disease May Have On U.S. Agriculture | |
| In 2001, the Asian species of Soybean Rust was observed for the first time in South America, notably in Brazil and Paraguay. Known for its rapid, windborne spread, the discovery and impact of Soybean Rust in South America has alarmed the U.S. soybean industry, which generates approximately $13 billion annually. Soybean Rust has long been noted as a serious fungal leaf disease of soybean in Asia, Africa, and Australia, with yield losses reported from 10 to 80 percent. In 1994, the disease was observed on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. While the disease is yet to appear in the continental U.S., plant pathologists with the American Phytopathological Society (APS) say the possibility of this disease occurring and creating substantial yield loss in the United States is very real. | |
| According to Gary Peterson of the USDA Agricultural Research Service, the appearance of the disease in South America was a "wake-up call" that we need to be prepared for the potential entry of this disease into the U.S. "This disease can cause significant yield losses and fungicide control measures can be costly," Peterson said. "If Soybean Rust is found in the U.S., we must to be prepared to make rapid decisions and take effective actions based the available science. Early detection could be critical to the overall cost of control, so public awareness is important," he said. | |
| The current knowledge and disease management tools for Soybean Rust will be the focus of a symposium at the APS Annual Meeting in Charlotte, NC, August 9-13, 2003. This symposium will cover the biology of the disease, current status of resistant breeding programs, methods of detection and identification, fungicide control, disease modeling for the U.S., and a presentation of the new USDA Soybean Rust Action Plan. Presentations will be followed by an open discussion period. | |
| Thanks to travel support from the United Soybean Board, two invited guest speakers, Dr. Jose Tadashi Yorinori (Brazil) and Dr. Clive Levy (Zimbabwe) will share their knowledge and first hand experiences with the introduction and aftermath of Soybean Rust in their respective regions. | |
| The Soybean Rust symposium will be held from 2-5 p.m. at the Charlotte Convention Center on Tuesday, August 12, 2003. Members of the media are invited to attend annual meeting events and complimentary registration is available. A full report on Soybean Rust is also available on APS' website at http://www.apsnet.org/online/feature/rust/ . The American Phytopathological Society (APS) is a non-profit, professional scientific organization dedicated to the study and control of plant diseases, with 5,000 members worldwide. | |
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