Tiny plastic cow figures (image on Flickr by Zoomar). The Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University is standing proud this week. Three of their graduates helped eradicate only the second disease ever eradicated from earth. ‘Three Tufts University researchers were praised by the international community for their help in eradicating rinderpest, a disease … Continue reading
Cow bell from Kenya, on loan from Gary K Clarke, Cowabunga Safaris (photo by Topeka & Shawness County Public Library on Flickr). This week, as the New York Times reports below, the United Nations officially declared that, for only the second time in history, a disease has been wiped off the face of the earth. The … Continue reading
The pathogenesis of Rift Valley fever. Viruses 2011, 3(5), 493-519; doi:10.3390/v3050493 (image credit: A J Cann’s Flickr photostream). Kenya’s Business Daily newspaper reports that Kenya is forging a new pact in an old war against the deadly mosquito-transmitted ‘zoonotic’—human plus livestock—disease called Rift Valley fever. ‘Kenya has partnered with neighbouring stats to boost surveillance on Rift Valley … Continue reading
The New Agriculturist reports today that ‘As the Middle East increases livestock imports from Africa, officials are meeting in Dubai to develop a strategy to prevent the spread of Rift Valley fever, without banning livestock imports from the Horn of Africa. . . . ‘To guide their responses to the disease, officials from the Middle … Continue reading
A homestead in Thachock Village, Laos (photo credit: Flickr photostream of MAG [Mines Advisory Group]). . . . [P]olicy-makers think they have to choose between feeding the world and protecting the environment—a straight choice. Does it have to be this way? No. To the contrary—we can and must achieve both, or we will fail on … Continue reading
ILRI veterinary epidemiologist Jeff Mariner presenting his research at a meeting of the World Animal Health Organisation (OIE) (photo credit: OIE). A disease that has devastated the planet for millennia has been eradicated. An international campaign has wiped the cattle plague rinderpest off the face of the earth. ‘For centuries, a disease has ravaged the … Continue reading
A project funded by the Wellcome Trust on zoonotic diseases was broadcast on an Australian television program called ‘Catalyst’ on 10 March 2011. The research described in the program is supported by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), where the project’s principal investigator, Eric Fevre, is hosted. The television program interviews Fevre and his colleagues … Continue reading
ILRI has worked with Indonesia to control bird flu using participatory disease surveillance and control approaches (photo credit: ILRI/Jost). The World Bank this week reports that since the beginning of this year, the H5N1 bird flu virus has re-emerged, killing people in Egypt and across Asia. Experts say we need to invest in stronger human … Continue reading
Delia Grace, a veterinary epidemiologist with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), works in Africa and South and Southeast Asia on livestock food safety and disease issues (picture credit: ILRI/Mann). With more than 6 billion people and over 20 billion livestock, the world is getting crowded—with risks increasing of livestock diseases causing devastating human as … Continue reading
The 1,000 participants that gathered in Delhi last week for an international conference organized by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) came from 65 countries and from the agricultural, health, nutrition, and related sectors and represented governments, non-governmental organizations, the private sector, research organizations and academia alike. Some 150 chairpersons, speakers and rapporteurs engaged themselves … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 