National Animal Health Surveillance System Outlook

Issue 9, First Quarter 2006

The NAHSS Outlook is an electronic communication with information about the National Animal Health Surveillance System (NAHSS) that is distributed via email to all members of Veterinary Services.  Contact the National Surveillance Unit to provide comments and suggestions for future topics.

Articles in This Issue:

• Targeted Surveillance
• NAHSS: A Network of Alliances
• Lab Consortium Focuses on Optimizing Preparedness, Surveillance (ICLN)
• PRV Team Developing Comprehensive Surveillance Plan
• NAHSS Activity Update - February 2006

NAHSS Activity Updates

Click here for brief updates on the Animal Health Surveillance Inventory , the Evaluation of the Scrapie Surveillance Program , Implementation of Classical Swine Fever Surveillance , and the February 2006 NAHSS Steering Committee Meeting

Targeted Sampling

Ziad Malaeb describes a comprehensive sampling framework based on targeted sampling as a more efficient and effective way to find disease or estimate its prevalence, rather then the more common, popular choice of random sampling. Targeted surveillance revolves around the premise that disease does not occur at random, and there are conditions under which disease is more likely to exist. Therefore, looking for disease or estimating its prevalence in a purely random manner ignores these conditions and can result in gross inefficiencies. Read more about targeted sampling.

NAHSS: A Network of Alliances

The National Animal Health Surveillance System ties together existing Federal, State and local animal health monitoring programs and surveillance activities into a comprehensive, coordinated system. The NAHSS is designed to systematically collect, collate and analyze animal health data and disseminate it to the appropriate agencies.Through its network of alliances and partnerships among government and private entities, NAHSS will help improve disease detection and surveillance capabilities. Read more about the NAHSS.

Lab Consortium Focuses on Optimizing Preparedness, Surveillance

The Integrated Consortium of Laboratory Networks (ICLN) is an interagency activity designed to establish communication and consistency among the diverse laboratory systems. The ICLN is comprised of five major laboratory networks as well as the Federal systems specifically responsible for laboratory preparedness and response. The ICLN integrates the diverse laboratory capabilities to optimize national laboratory preparedness and improve the effectiveness of national surveillance. Learn more about the ICLN.

PRV Team Developing Comprehensive Surveillance Plan

The need for a comprehensive surveillance plan for Pseudorabies (PRV) was identified by the State-Federal-Industry eradication program as a result of all States achieving Stage V-Pseudorabies (PRV) free status in 2004. The plan will be comprised of five surveillance objectives, including surveillance for the rapid detection of PRV, monitoring the risk of introduction of PRV into the U.S., assessing international PRV status, and educational campaign effectiveness. Read more about the PRV surveillance plan.