Surviving the Holiday Hustle: Simple Strategies to Protect Your Mental Health This Season

On November 22, 2024, Mexico’s Chief Veterinary Officer informed the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) about the detection of New World screwworm (NWS) in Chiapas, a southern Mexican state bordering Guatemala. This alarming find involved a cow at an inspection checkpoint, raising concerns about the pest’s potential spread into the United States.

New World screwworms are the larvae of a parasitic fly species that infest the living tissue of warm-blooded animals, including livestock, pets, and even humans. The infestation begins when the maggots enter open wounds, feeding on the host’s flesh and causing severe infections.

Dr. Crystal Heath, a veterinarian and outspoken animal welfare advocate, is at the center of a heated controversy as agricultural producers accuse her of crossing professional boundaries in her fight to expose the impacts of the ongoing H5N1 bird flu outbreak. While her revelations about the zoonotic risks and alleged unethical practices within the industry have drawn public attention, critics claim her actions violate the veterinary code of conduct.

Chimpanzees are more likely to engage in play or groom each other if they see others performing these social behaviors first, Georgia Sandars and colleagues at Durham University, U.K. report in a study publishing November 20, 2024 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE.

The poultry industry loses up to $6 billion annually due to necrotic enteritis, a preventable intestinal disease in poultry, including broiler chickens.

An Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station poultry science researcher is evaluating a new possible solution using a novel vaccine combined with a bile acid regimen.