Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship Helps Guide Veterinarians through Category II Accreditation Process
Category II veterinarians may be asked to assist animal health officials in responding to a foreign animal disease outbreak
DES MOINES, Iowa (Dec. 7, 2020) – Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig announced today that the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship has released an online video explaining how veterinarians licensed to practice in Iowa can obtain or renew their USDA Category II accreditation status. This is one of many steps the Department is taking to prepare for a potential foreign animal disease outbreak.
If a foreign animal disease outbreak occurs, the Department may call upon private Category II Accredited veterinarians to assist their clients and state and federal animal health officials with the disease response.
“If a foreign animal disease breaches U.S. borders, it could be devastating to Iowa’s agriculture-based economy,” said Secretary Naig. “It will take an all-hands-on-deck approach from state, federal and private animal health experts to quickly stop the spread of the disease.”
The “How to Become a Category II Veterinarian” video is available on-demand on the Iowa Department of Agriculture’s website.
The Department is also inviting all veterinarians licensed in Iowa to participate in the IowaFADefense foreign animal disease response training program. The program educates veterinarians on how to:
- diagnose foreign animal diseases,
- assist the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) with foreign animal disease investigations,
- teach farm staff to collect surveillance samples during an outbreak,
- work with clients to enhance on-farm biosecurity,
- improve on-farm record-keeping strategies to quickly facilitate foreign animal disease investigations, and
- conduct a small-scale epidemiologic investigation on a farm.
African Swine Fever, Classical Swine Fever, Foot-and-Mouth Disease, Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza and Virulent Newcastle Disease are included in the IowaFADefense program curriculum.
The IowaFADefense program is administered online using a combination of webinars, interactive activities and modules, and video demonstrations. Veterinarians who complete the entire program will earn 19 hours of continuing education credits.
The IowaFADefense program is free to Iowa veterinarians and is funded through the state’s Foreign Animal Disease Preparedness and Response fund. For more information about the IowaFADefense program, call (515) 281-8588 or email animalindustry@iowaagriculture.gov.
Foreign Animal Disease Prevention and Preparation
Efforts are underway by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to prevent a foreign animal disease from breaching the border. If it does, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship has been working closely with the USDA, farmer-led livestock groups, and other livestock-producing states to develop plans and resources to contain and eradicate it as quickly as possible.
In September 2019, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and 14 other swine-producing states participated in a four-day African Swine Fever workshop led by USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to test current foreign animal disease response plans. Each day of the exercise focused on different tactics deployed during an outbreak — detection, containment, eradication and cleaning and disinfection. This allowed the USDA, the Iowa Department of Agriculture, state agencies, industry representatives and producers to put response plans into action to make sure they could be executed quickly and effectively.
Recently the Department, working in conjunction with Iowa State University, developed a video showing livestock producers how to set up a vehicle cleaning and disinfection corridor to protect their farms, and neighboring farms, during a foreign animal disease outbreak. All vehicles, trucks, trailers and equipment entering or exiting a farm during a foreign animal disease outbreak should be properly cleaned and disinfected to help prevent pathogens from spreading to other locations and livestock.
To learn more about the state’s foreign animal disease response plans, visit iowaagriculture.gov/animal-industry-bureau/animal-disease-response.