Document Actions
The Animal Health Network: a system to alert non-commercial livestock owners of disease outbreaks
The Animal Health Network (formerly known as the County Animal Security & Health Network, or CASHN) is designed to improve communication between the county agent and the ‘backyard’ owner through a common element: the local feed store.
A pilot program in six states found that a message of a disease outbreak can flow from the state veterinarian to the feed retailer in little more than 48 hours. The CASHN system could potentially take the message to an average of 795 non-commercial owners within a week of receipt, the pilot shows. Rapid dissemination is designed to improve response to a potentially catastrophic outbreak, such as the 2002-2003 outbreak of Exotic Newcastle Disease, which began with a smuggled bird, existed in backyard flocks for six months before detection, and eventually led to the destruction of more than 3.5 million birds and the suspension of exports to 34 nations from California, Nevada and Arizona.