LETTER FROM THE ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
By the time this newsletter reaches you, we will be into
the third month of "transition" of our administration,
with Dr. Thacker serving as the Interim Department Head
of Veterinary Pathobiology, and myself serving as chief
of day-to-day operations at ADDL. This "transition"
is due to Dr. Alan Rebar becoming the new Dean of the School
of Veterinary Medicine
July 1, 1996.
I greatly appreciate the tremendous hard work and sacrifice
of all of the ADDL faculty and staff who have worked with
me in a very positive manner over the past several months.
In recent months, I have witnessed a greater level of cooperation
between the School
of Veterinary Medicine
and ADDL which will ultimately result in increased benefits
to all in the veterinary community.
The wet spring and early part of the summer resulted in
significant damage to Indiana
wheat resulting in increased fungal growth and the production
of significant amounts of deoxynivalenol (DON, vomitoxin).
Since July 1, the toxicology section of the ADDL has performed
49 mycotoxin screens (DON, aflatoxin, and zearalenone).
Of these, 29 (59.2%) have been positive for | DON in the
range of 1 to 16 ppm. Four samples (8.2%) have been positive
for zearalenone in the range of 1.0 to 1.5 ppm. Of the positive
DON samples, 55.2% were wheat, 41.4% were mixed feed probably
containing wheat, and 3.4% were corn. DON in the feed results
in feed refusal and poor weight gain. Swine are especially
sensitive and feeds containing 5 ppm or less can be associated
with feed refusal.
We at the ADDL are continuing to make progress on several
issues. First of all, we have a committee to investigate
a new computer system for this lab. This committee has met
several times over the summer and has made great progress
regarding many of the difficult problems associated with
a new computer system. Another group in the ADDL is addressing
the issue of additional and improved swine serology tests
which can be offered. Progress is also being made with training
of technicians for mycoplasmal serology which we hope to
offer in the near future.
Preliminary data from our annual report indicates
a slight increase in the number of accessions in the ADDL
with a noticeable increase in our mammalian necropsy cases.
We hope you enjoy this newsletter. We attempt to fill it
with many interesting articles covering a wide diversity
of animal diseases, including Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease
(EHD) which has been reported recently in cattle and deer
in the southern regions of Indiana.
As always, we welcome your comments about this
newsletter as well as the Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory.
We look forward to hearing from you.
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