LABORATORY DIAGNOSES OF VESICULAR STOMATITIS 



Count, rt. Jonuory 1 - D*i*mb«r 31 1959 



The epidemiology' of this Texas outbreak is 

 comparable to that of 1949, which also started 

 early in the season and progressed from Texas 

 and Arizona into Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, 

 and Wisconsin before it stopped in the fall. 

 The possible reservoirs of infection and vectors 

 remain unknown. The infection frequently 

 spreads from the Carolina-Georgia and 

 Louisiana-Mississippi endemic coastal plain 

 areas northward into Virginia, West Virginia, 

 and Maryland. 



Anaplasmosis. • — Serological diagnosis of 

 anaplasmosis of cattle is another activity of 

 the Beltsville laboratory. Interest in the pos- 

 sibility of establishing a control program for 

 this disease is increasing. Since the Agricul- 

 tural Research Service is no longer in a posi- 

 tion to produce anaplasmosis antigen in its 

 own laboratories, a cooperative agreement has 

 been established for its production at the Texas 

 Agricultural Experiment Station. 



Two million test doses of anaplasmosis com- 

 plement-fixation antigen were delivered to the 

 Division's Beltsville laboratory on June 7, 

 1960, by the Texas A & M College. This 

 delivery completed phase I of the cooperative 

 project between the Division and Texas A & M 

 College for the production of anaplasmosis 

 antigen. The antigen is now available for 

 distribution to cooperating laboratories. Under 

 phase II, another 2 million test doses are 

 scheduled for delivery by June 30, 1961. 



The Beltsville laboratory is responsible for 

 distributing antigen, complement, standard 

 sera, and other diagnostic materials related to 

 performance of the complement-fixation test 



for anaplasmosis in the various field labora- 

 tories. 



It also maintains general supervision of 

 testing efficiency and accuracy of the 16 Fed- 

 eral, State, or University laboratories engaged 

 in the testing of serum for anaplasmosis. A 

 composite report of the results on a large 

 number of unknown serum samples forwarded 

 to these 16 laboratories for comparative test 

 has recently been made. A total of 21 State 

 or Federal serologists have completed training 

 at the laboratory in the complement-fixation 

 test for anaplasmosis. 



The new "small" tube technique for anaplas- 

 mosis has been inaugurated and all labora- 

 tories engaged in anaplasmosis testing have 

 been so informed. Each laboi-atory was fur- 

 nished the new publication, "Manual and 

 Directory of Animal Diagnostic Laboratories 

 in United States," standard serums, hemolysin, 

 standard complement, and antigen. 



The serology' unit also tests for dourine and 

 glanders all equine serum samples submitted 

 from the various quarantine stations and other 

 points. 



During 1960, 11.085 tests were made for 

 dourine and 11,075 for glanders. 



Ames diagnostic laboratory 



The Diagnostic Laboratory at Ames, Iowa, 

 was established in 1957 under a cooperative 

 agreement with Iowa State University to serv- 

 ice the Division's programs in tuberculosis, 

 brucellosis, scrapie, and other diseases of na- 

 tional interest. The staff of 20 will be 

 transferred to the National Animal Disease 

 Laboratory in 1961. 



Tuberculosis. — Many new types of bacterial 

 organisms closely resembling Mycobacterium 

 tuberculosis are being recovered from human 

 patients thought to be tubercular. In order 

 to maintain the confidence built up in the 

 tuberculin test over the years, it was important 

 to get more information about the causes of 

 reactions to mammalian tuberculin in no-gross- 

 lesion cases under field conditions. A project 

 was established for this purpose in 1957. 



Specimens collected from animals that re- 

 veal NGL reactions as well as specimens from 

 regular kill are studied. Procedures include 

 direct culturing of specimens, animal inocu- 

 lations for initial recovery of organisms and 



40 



