BROOKINGS – SDSU Professor Emeritus David H. Zeman, DVM, PhD, DACVP, is on the scientific committee leading an international conference on the topic of highly pathogenic avian influenza.
The meeting is in Paris, France, on Oct. 25-26 at the headquarters of the World Organization for Animal Health.
The conference will focus on understanding the advantages and disadvantages of using vaccination as a nation’s primary control method for HPAI.
In recent years, HPAI outbreaks in Asia, Europe and the North America resulted in the depopulation of millions of poultry. This has created a major financial loss to producers and a major loss to the world food supply. Participants from over 100 nations are expected.
A successful vaccination program would require a robust ongoing surveillance program. Surveillance testing would be done by laboratories such as the South Daktoa Animal Disease Research and Diagnostic Laboratory on the campus of SDSU.
Zeman is currently executive director of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians. The International Alliance for Biological Standardization is organizing this strategic conference.
