Diagnostics in animal health: How UC helps exclude and minimize impact of livestock pathogens

Abstract

UC has a wide reach in the agriculture sector of the California economy and is well recognized for research expertise in plant diseases. Less well known is the role UC plays in animal agriculture. In 2012, the California Animal Health and Food Safety lab at UC Davis performed nearly 980,000 tests on samples from sick livestock, including cattle, horses, pigs, chickens and turkeys. The lab is prepared to respond rapidly to any disease outbreak or identification of a foreign disease. Researchers at the School of Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis are testing novel subunit vaccines to prevent pinkeye in cattle; UC ANR specialists and advisors and the staff at the Sierra Foothill Research and Extension Center were key to the development of best management practices that landowners and resource managers are using to protect their herds and public water sources against the parasite Cryptosporidium parvum; and UC veterinary scientists are part of a large team of experts, including state and federal agencies, determined to combat the endemic bluetongue virus, which can affect the state's exports.