Area veterinarians participate in KSU project
Three veterinarians in Marion County have joined at least 12 others in the central Kansas area who are cooperating with Kansas State University, Manhattan, in an experimental reporting program.
Known as the K-State Rapid Service Veterinary Project, the program is tied to homeland security and will allow agriculture officials to track potentially dangerous situations.
According to Dr. Jessica Laurin, veterinarian with Animal Health Center of Marion County, the central Kansas area was chosen because of its diversified cattle operations, including cow/calf, dairy, and feedlot operations. The area also is close to Manhattan.
Other Marion County participants are Norman Galle of Hillsboro and Mike Moore of Florence.
"KSU is trying to put together a system to identify common problems which may develop within the veterinarians' service areas," Laurin said.
Each veterinarian has been supplied with a combination cell phone/palm pilot to report on specific cases that come to their attention.
A palm pilot is a hand-held computer which utilizes a stylus or pointer instead of a mouse. Veterinarians connect to the Internet on their palm pilots to send information to KSU.
Cases to be reported include diarrhea in cattle other than baby calves, neurologic conditions, unexpected deaths, feed refusal, abortions, and mouth sores.
Laurin said cattlemen who report cases remain anonymous, and no individual farm is identified.
She said the information will be useful in case of a nuclear threat or feed contamination.
The format for the program is being developed by a company in Arizona through a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to KSU.
Laurin said the current format is just a start. Eventually veterinarians will have digital cameras which will connect to their palm pilots and allow them to send pictures to KSU officials.
This will be a major advancement because it will allow instant response to a possible case of the highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease to prevent its spread, according to Laurin.
