KSU selects first NBAF Scientist Training Program fellowshipsAugust 9, 2018Five graduate students from the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine have been awarded National Bio and Agro-defense Facility Scientist Training Program fellowships. The awardees will receive tuition, stipends, and funds for supplies and travel from a five-year, $1.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA APHIS). The students were selected for their interest and expertise in emerging animal diseases, diseases that infect both animals and people, or foreign animal diseases that threaten global health and food security. Once they complete the fellowship program, they are committed to working at the Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory at the Plum Island Animal Disease Center in New York and, ultimately, the National Bio and Agro-defense Facility (NBAF), which is under construction adjacent to the university's Manhattan campus. The selected students already have received training in high-containment facilities that work with pathogens that will be studied at NBAF. The fellowship recipients, who will be mentored by professors with whom they have worked with for at least one to three years, are Kaitlynn Bradshaw, a master's student in veterinary biomedical science; Chester McDowell, a concurrent doctor of veterinary medicine …
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KSU conducts first US livestock study with Japanese encephalitis virusJune 20, 2018North American domestic pigs could be susceptible to Japanese encephalitis virus infections, according to a study by Kansas State University (KSU) College of Veterinary Medicine researchers. The study, believed to be the first of its kind in the U.S., was published recently in Scientific Reports. "Collectively, our study demonstrates for the first time that North American domestic pigs can contribute to the Japanese encephalitis virus transmission cycle as amplifying hosts," said So Lee Park, a third-year veterinary student and concurrent doctoral student in pathobiology who was first author of the study. Japanese encephalitis virus is a mosquito-transmitted flavivirus that has human and veterinary health significance. The virus is the leading cause of vaccine-preventable encephalitis in Asia and the western Pacific, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The virus can be maintained in a cycle between mosquitoes and vertebrates, mainly pigs and wading birds. While most human infections are mild, a small percentage of people develop encephalitis. About 1 in 4 cases of Japanese encephalitis are fatal, the CDC stated. The virus in swine can cause encephalitis in piglets and reproductive diseases in mature adult pigs. The KSU study suggests …
