New Tuberculosis Testing Guidelines Put Forth by Professional Societies, CDC.

New Tuberculosis Testing Guidelines Put Forth by Professional Societies, CDC. Individuals at risk for latent or active tuberculosis infection should be assessed with newer tests such as interferon-gamma release assays (IGRAs) and molecular diagnostics, according to new evidence-based guidelines put forth by a cadre of expert organizations. In the first new guidelines to be published in 17 years, a task force supported by the American Thoracic Society, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Infectious Diseases Society of America gathered current relevant evidence and made 23 recommendations about diagnostic testing for latent, pulmonary, and extrapulmonary TB. The task force published its recommendations yesterday in Clinical Infectious Diseases. Of the 23 recommendations, the task force deemed six as "strong," meaning that most individuals should receive the intervention, and the recommendation can be adopted as policy in most situations. The remaining 17 recommendations were deemed as "conditional" by the task force, meaning that the majority of affected individuals would want the suggested course of action, but some would not; that physicians should take other factors into consideration before following the course of action; and that "policymaking will require substantial debate and involvement of various stakeholders." continue

Agribusiness: How the Internet of things is solving the issue of food waste.

According to UN FAO data, approximately $1 trillion in produced crops is annually lost post-harvest. This includes the various stages — from farm, to shelf, to fork. Even in technologically advanced regions such as the EU, post-harvest losses for grains and cereals are often more than 10%, with higher percentages seen in developing countries in Africa or in industrialized Asia. 

These losses are incurred during raw material storage, processing — milling, for example — and distribution in the logistics chain. One company that is responding to the challenge of food waste with IoT technology is Centaur Analytics, the first full stack IoT company that provides real-time stored agri-products monitoring and protection solutions. 

They develop and market end-to-end solutions for the Internet of Things, focused on the quality and safety of stored goods. Their mission is to dramatically increase post-harvest yields and eliminate waste from farm to shelf. Storing crops is a tricky process. 

Most farmed crops are stored in massive quantities in big metal containers like silos, an environment that is susceptible to a range of challenges like moisture, temperature and insect infestation. Traditionally methods of managing these challenges have involved farmers physically visiting their silo or storage container in person by testing each one individually — not an exact science — and provide treatments. Insect infestation is particularly problematic. 

 As well as eating crops, insects increase the moisture levels within the storage containers, which can further spoil the crops. Bantas explained that treatment typically involved a fumigants such as phosphine which is administered over a set number of days, typically up to a week. 

 Fumigation is used for all kinds of crops: tobacco leaves, flowers, grain, rice , feeds, fruit fresh, died and so on, people have been fighting this product with fumigating gases but it has been without monitoring,which is where the problem lies. 

 The problem is that while fumigation can eradicate the problem, if the temperature of the container is too low, the dosage is incorrect or the duration of treatment too short, it can harden they insects and they mutate and grow into something stronger, making treatment ineffective. continue

Iraq has ‘chronic’ bird flu problem

Iraq has ‘chronic’ bird flu problem: Iraq’s inability to tackle the cause of bird flu means the deadly virus  is likely to spread across neighbouring countries, according to an expert on animal diseases.

Ukraine facing revenue loss after EU poultry ban

Ukraine facing revenue loss after EU poultry ban: Ukraine’s poultry industry is set to lose up to UAH150 million ($5.7m) per month due to the EU ban on poultry imports, according to the Ukraine Agribusiness Club (UAB).

Mycotoxin levels in animal feed on the rise

Mycotoxin levels in animal feed on the rise: The level of mycotoxins found in UK and Irish wheat has increased over the past two years, according to a new survey.

Harmful levels of arsenic found in chicken

Harmful levels of arsenic found in chicken: Studies have shown that several samples of chicken from Pakistan contain concerning levels of arsenic.

UN: Bangladesh must boost protein intake to fight stunted growth

UN: Bangladesh must boost protein intake to fight stunted growth: As Bangladesh grapples with the problem of stunted growth in children, a United Nations expert has called for a boost in animal protein consumption to tackle the crisis.