Preface: Why FRADS

An outbreak of any disease in List A is potentially catastrophic whether it is a natural outbreak or an agro- bioterrorist attack. A case in point is the recent outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease in the United Kingdom in which the OIE estimated that nearly 6 million animals were destroyed at a cost between 10.5 - 12.9 billion US dollars.

The rapidly changing face of global education, culture, and philosophy dictates that major revisions be made in the scope and style of teaching. Veterinary education is all the more impacted because of the diversity and comparative nature inherent in all areas of this complex discipline. According to Gustafson (2002) veterinary education in the USA is internationally (globally) challenged. A strategy to address this gap is needed and FRADS is a modest but vital component of such a strategy. When you ask any veterinarian interested in international veterinary medicine, you discover that they may be involved in Heifer Project, Christian Veterinary Mission, or in Vector Biology and FRADS control, or are training scientists for USDA, USAID, or FAO in areas pertaining directly or inderectly to foreign animal diseases. Import regulations on animal products and some state regulations on notifiable animal diseases (e.g. Illinois) point to foreign animal diseases.

Many food safety issues also relate to reportable diseases such as (eg. salmonellosis) the later are not foreign to USA and do not meet the strick definition of FRADS. However, they have a global ramifacations and many of them are important on the differetial diagnostic list (OIE List A.) of foreign animal diseases. Regrettably, however, there is paucity of efforts devoted to foreign animal diseases in our curriculum. Recently, especially after the outbreak of FMD and Mad Cow Disease in England along with the 9/11 events in USA, many veterinary and medical schools (see resources section of this web site) have revamped their foreign animal disease components. We welcome and encourage this trend, and we hope the effort in this web page significantly addresses the knowledge gap. Our effort has been to collate various resources and to facilitate self-education for farmers,veterinarians, public health workers, and the public at large. We also hope that individuals looking for international careers, teaching aids, preparation for certification and board exams, legislative promotion material, will find these pages resourceful. We invite the reader to feel free to send any information pertinent to format, outbreaks, accuracy, referall to various experts, etc. We will do our best to keep the site well-maintained and updated as outbreaks occur and are handled.

 

Definition

For operational purposes, we define FRADS as predominantly foreign to the USA, presenting with a strikingly different and high morbidity and mortality. On physical examination or autopsy, lesions that are not commonly observed in USA are noted. Petichiation, echymoses, bloody diarrhea, persistent fever, naso-ocular discharge, lameness, lymphadenopathy may serve as good indicators. History is particularly important at individual and herd level. Movements within state, country, or internationally may be helpful hints. Many of the FRADS are vector-borne. Certain diseases (e.g. Ehrlichiosis) have a historical link to foreign countries but are now considered endemic in certain parts of the USA. We have therefore included them here even though they are not strictly foreign. A number of other diseases have been included for differential diagnostic reasons even though they may not nessarily have been seen or classified yet as reportable diseases in the USA. Coincidentally, many of these diseases are vector-borne and so much effort has been directed to resources for highly competent vectors such as ticks, mosquitoes, etc. Please keep in mind that this definition and scope is for operational purposes only, relative to the USA.