Below is a roundup of updates from the Washington State Veterinarian’s Office.
WSDA authorizes new RHDV2 Vaccine for Rabbits
The Washington State Veterinarian’s Office has authorized the use of a new, domestically produced vaccine for Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Virus Type 2 (RHDV2), a highly contagious, fatal disease of rabbits.
In 2019, the virus killed hundreds of feral domestic and domestic rabbits in Island and Clallam counties. Since April 2020, a phylogenetically distinct RHDV2 virus has spread across 15 states in the U.S. that is also deadly to wild rabbits.
The vaccination was developed by Medgene Labs of South Dakota. Their product is an inactivated (killed) recombinant subunit vaccine that builds immunity to RHDV2 specific antigenic proteins in the rabbit. Unlike the Eravac and Filavac vaccines imported from Europe, the Medgene product does not depend on live rabbits for its production and Medgene vaccinated rabbits can be differentiated from infected rabbits on a laboratory PCR test.
While the vaccine is under emergency and conditional approval with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Center of Veterinary Biologics, it must be administered by a Washington-licensed veterinarian. The vaccine is administered as a subcutaneous injection and is a 2-dose regimen, with the booster dose being delivered 21 days following. Established vaccine withdrawal periods (21 days) must be followed for meat-type rabbits used for human or animal consumption.
Veterinarians who would like to order the vaccine should contact Medgene labs directly at medgenelabs.com or 605-697-2600. Veterinarians should maintain vaccination records for any routine vaccination and conform to state licensure expectations. Meat-type rabbits vaccination records may be kept at the herd level, similar to other livestock, rather than at the individual animal level.
Once the RHDV2 vaccine gains full licensure, as early as this spring, the vaccine will likely become more accessible. Due to the contagious and extremely virulent nature of this virus, vaccination is critical for disease control to protect our domestic and wild rabbit populations alike.
For more information on RHDV2, biosecurity, and prevention, please visit agr.wa.gov and search for the Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease webpage.
African Swine Fever (ASF): This animal disease continues to pose an ongoing threat. The Dominican Republic has slaughtered tens of thousands of pigs after detecting outbreaks of ASF in 14 of the country’s 32 provinces in early August with estimated economic losses of around $180 million.
On September 20, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported a positive case of ASF in Haiti. USDA continues to assist with surveillance, control, and eradication efforts in both domestic and feral swine. In addition, USDA issued a Federal Order to establish additional requirements for dogs imported into the United States for resale from countries where ASF exists because ASF can be transmitted via dogs’ fur and bedding, representing a possible pathway for the introduction of disease.
Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease Virus (EHDV) and Bluetongue virus (BTV): The Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife is mapping positive cases of EHDV and BTV throughout the state (Hemorrhagic Surveillance 2021 – Google My Maps). White-tailed, mule deer, and bighorn sheep continue to die of the disease. WSDA has had several reports of EHDV and BTV in domestic sheep, cows, yaks, and an alpaca since July.
Animal Disease Traceability Program: In the last few years, WSDA has worked hard to build infrastructure and promote Animal Disease Traceability and support private veterinarians by providing free RFID tags, handheld readers, and access to free animal health records in the field and at public livestock markets. Here are some facts to show our progress in the last year:
- 59,690 (75 percent) of all tags distributed to 62 veterinarians were official 840 RFID. Only 20 veterinarians are still requesting metal tags.
- 5,031 (80.3 percent) of CVIs received from 803 accredited vets in 45 states were eCVIs and only 1,232 (19.7 percent) were paper.
- 500+ Washington veterinarians and 74 authorized users (technicians) have accounts in the Oregon Department of Agriculture, Oregon Veterinary Information System.
- 89 RFID Stick Readers have been distributed to Washington veterinarians.
- 5 RFID readers have been distributed to support fairs.
- 6 public livestock markets in the state have the Saletime system vet module and receive free RFID tags and readers.
- 6 slaughter facilities in the state have the capability to retire all RFID tags information electronically when animals are harvested. WSDA captures 99 percent of animals harvested in the state.
- Approximately 30,000 dairy bull calves that move interstate annually have RFID tags placed prior to movement.
Extended Equine Certificate of Veterinary Inspection
Some of you may remember a few years ago when horse owners had an “equine passport” health certificate available to them that allowed movement for one animal for six months. Most of these were done for rodeo or show animals that moved many times in the season. At the end of the season, the owner was required to send an itinerary of their movements during those six months.
These were problematic in that the itinerary was after the fact and most were never sent back to the state offices. If those animals were exposed to a disease, it was difficult or impossible to know where they had been transported to. Eventually, the states that were using this paper-based format quit accepting them and went back to the 30-day certificate of veterinary inspections (CVI). These could get quite expensive for the owner as the animal moved many times in one month to different shows, rodeos, events.
A team of veterinarians started working on the development of a replacement that addressed the shortcomings of the old passports. After bringing proposals forward and getting input from state veterinarian offices across the country, Global Vet Link (GVL) launched an online extended equine certificate of veterinary inspection (EECVI).
To get an EECVI, private veterinarians must have an account with GVL. The veterinarian enters current Equine Infectious Anemia (EIA) testing information and completes some basic data. The veterinarian must do some client education so when the movement occurs, the owner logs on to their own portal and attests that the animal is healthy. They then provide the itinerary and receive a permit for that specific movement.
GVL has made it easy with help center online tutorials or live training sessions with technicians. Recently a few upgrades have been made to improve a few areas of compliance. In all, at this time, there are 30 states participating and those are on the GVL website.
State animal health officials can access the data on horses permitted to enter, and in the case of a disease outbreak, notify the owners. The link for more information is https://www.globalvetlink.com/eecvi/
There are some other companies with plans to release something similar, but as of this writing, GVL is the only company that offers the EECVI.
The extended equine health certificate is a nice tool to offer clients or to ask your private veterinarian about if you travel frequently to rodeos or shows in the summer.
By Dr. Amber Itle, Interim Washington State Veterinarian, and Dr. Ben Smith, Field Veterinarian Supervisor
Posted December 10, 2021