Nuovo numero del BENV

One of the main topics of the new BENV edition concerns the outbreaks of the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N8, which occurred in Europe at the end of the year 2014, within an area including the UK, the Netherlands, Germany and the north-eastern of Italy. An article inside the section “Intorno a noi” (“Around us”) makes the point of the current epidemiological situation, with particular attention to the measures rapidly applied to limit the spread of AI in the surrounding areas.

In the same session, there is a review on the Lumpy Skin Disease, which makes the point on the characteristics of the disease because of its recent wide spread towards Middle East, where at the moment, it is considered an endemic disease.

In the section “Intorno a noi” there is also an interesting article on the predictive microbiology, a multidisciplinary subject which has become a widely used tool to predict, through the use of mathematic models, the reaction of the pathogenic microorganisms or saprophytes to the different environmental conditions, which can influence food processing and conservation.

In the section “In questi mesi” (“During these months”) there is an update on the trend of the disease outbreaks, which occurred in Italy and in the Mediterranean area. An article shows the epidemiological situation of the West Nile Disease in Italy and in the neighbour countries; another article deals with the updated situation of Aethina tumida outbreaks in southern Italy. It is an exotic pest affecting bees and it is responsible for sixty confirmed cases in Calabria and for a case of infestation in Sicily.

The same section introduces the national informative system for the collection and management of data on the national control plans of salmonellosis (SISalm) in flocks of chicken of the specie Gallus gallus and in turkey: it is a complete informative system, which is integrated with other informative systems and national existing database in Italy, as the national informative system for the notification of animal diseases outbreaks (SIMAN) and the animal identification and registration system (Banca dati Nazionale dell’Anagrafe Zootecnica) (BDN).

In the section “Dati alla mano” (“Data on the hand”), the data on the outbreaks represent the national situation of the whole year 2014, including the outbreaks notified by the Veterinary Services to SIMAN during the year, the health status of the Regions and the animal species involved in the outbreaks. The maps show the distribution of the main animal disease outbreaks notified in 2014.

From the beginning of this year the BENV is also published on the Issuu portal, a web service that allows to upload digital documents like books, reviews and newspapers, ecc.

BENV, 19th edition, January 2015