A3o—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 12,1981 COLLEGE PARK, Md, - Two veterinary research scientists for the Maryland Agricultural Ex periment Station have received a federal grant to study respiratory diseases in chickens, using a technique that has enjoyed widespread success in differen understanding with Japan WASHIWGTON, L). C. - Secretary of Agriculture John K. Block said lI.S. Department ot Agriculture officials have reached an agreement with the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on conditions under which Japan will accept shipments of certain U.S. produce. The major points, Block said are; —Japan will not accept any from other states shipped trom produce trom areas ot California California ports will be accepted in quarantined tor the Mediterranean Japan it the produce is certified to truit tly. have originated outside California —Produce trom outside the and have been transported across quarantined areas in California ” California in sealed containers. USDA extends Medfly quarantine WASHINGTON, D.C. - Federal Mediterranean fruit fly quaran tines were extended August 20 to part of Stanislaus County in the San Joaquin Valley, California’s major commercial produce area, following a discovery of more than 50 Medfhes and several properties containing larvae. Also, part of Santa Cruz County, on the Calif orma coast, and a small area near Tampa, Florida, were placed under U.S. Department of Agriculture quarantine after entomologists found Medfhes there. “That find was the first we’ve found m a major commercial production area,” said Harvey L. Ford, deputy administrator of the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. “The San Joaquin Valley is separated from the other infested areas by mountains, and working with California’s Department of Food and Agriculture, we had hoped to be able to keep the area free ot flies.” Poultry respiratory investigation receives $60,000 bating animal and human viruses. Respiratory diseases such as infectious bronchitis rob Delmarva broiler producers ot more than $6 million a "year out of a total $7OO million industry, according to researchers Warren W. Marquardt and David B. Snyder. USDA reaches export will be accepted only it it is ac companied by a phytosamtary certificate—indicating it has been treated voluntarily by the ex porters to fulfill specifications stipulated by the importer, The Japanese will also require a certificate ot origin tor the produce. —Fruits and fruit-type vegetables sulch as cucumbers Ford said the Medfly may have been spread by travelers carrying illegal fruit out of areas already regulated—all of Alameda, San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties. The federal regulations, which parallel state rules, require many kinds of fruits, vegetables, nuts and ornamental plants to be fumigated or subjected to cold for specified periods to kill Medfhes before allowing the fruit out of the area. State regulations govern movement within the state, while federal regulations govern movement out of the state. The regulated area m Stanislaus County includes a 262 square-mile area in the western portion of the county. The regulated area in Santa Cruz County includes the northern part of the county as far south as state route 17, including the city of Santa Cruz. A four-square-mile area ot Hillsborough County adjacent to the area already regulated near Tampa, Florida, has also been quarantined. "Present technology available tor the rapid identification of different disease strains is cum bersome and tune consuming,” says Snyder, a virologist with the University ot Maryland’s Department ot Vetermary Science. As a result, he says, evaluation Discussions are continuing on winch truits and vegetables are to be considered hosts ot the Medfly, Block said. And, USDA has invited Japan to send observers to a Medtly research tacihty in Hawaii tor additional consultation with scientists. The Japanese delegation has also been invited to visit (Jalitorma, Block said. 'We’re pleased to continue discussions with Japanese officials about the most expenditious way to move California and other U.S. produce, while keeping in mind the concerns ot the Japanese about pest spread,” Block said. “While we continue to believe measures we had previously mandated are adequate, we're cooperating with other nations so there can be as little disruption ot trade as possible.” of different strains and developing vaccines to treat them have been critically delayed/ There study, therefore, Uikes existing technology a process called immunoenzyme assay which rapidly measures infectious bronchitis antibodies m poultry flocks and adds to it project developed monoclonal antibodies capable ot detecting minute dit ferences between infectious bronchitis strains. These monoclonal antibodies,, says Marquardt,' a university professor of veterinary science, are a “cleaned, refined” version of infectious antibodies, achieved through a cloning process. It is a technique, he adds, that has been used with success on other animals and even on human subjects in detecting different look-alike viral strains. “This will help us detect viral variants early so effective vac cines can be developed and em ployed before large economic losses are suffered by the broiler industry,” he says. Although the region’s 418 million broilers are vaccinated for respiratory disease, outbreaks still occur frequently, say the two researchers. “This strongly suggests a need for reevaluating this complex virus and the vaccines we have available now,” says Marquardt.' grant Kesearch scientists have been studying infectious bronchitis and other respiratory diseases in chickens since 1969 for the Maryland Agricultural Ex periment Station. Since then they have managed to characterize several hundred infectious bronchitis -isolates. This collection represents one of the largest virus repositories of its kind and is a concrete example of the major problem researchers face in .solving the respiratory disease riddle. Because so many variations of this virus can creep into a poultry flock,' outbreaks still occur in spite of vaccinations, says Marquardt. And readily available vaccines for the new viral strains do not exist. It takes considerable time and money to develop new vaccines, say the two researchers, but the problem is confounded by the chameleon-like nature ■ of viral strains. Until now, technology did not exist for researchers to identify minor variations between viral strains. This has made prevention dif ficult since all the strains look virtually the same/ says Marquardt. Funding for the $60,000 senes of studies comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Science and Education Ad ministration.
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