Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** the 2024 wisconsin veterinary…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** the 2024 wisconsin veterinary diagnostic laboratory (wvdl) cooperative agreement project will continue our response to the H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (hpai) outbreak in avian and dairy cattle, as well as enhance, manage and support the nahln program at wvdl. IT will focus on salary support to increase nahln microbiologist capabilities and capacity for nahln disease testing both in routine surveillance and disease outbreaks. The expansion includes additional staff to support the ongoing outbreak testing, maintain our quality system and the nahln IT messaging and IT infrastructure, as well as activities in other areas including transmissible spongiform encephalopathies testing and antimicrobial resistance monitoring. Wvdl has a successful track record for being highly effective and efficient in assay development and testing for livestock endemic diseases and hpai outbreak response. Preparation and readiness to respond over the past years was critical for the 2023 disease outbreak response, where wvdl has been highly praised by state animal health officials for our rapid and accurate testing which expedited the disease control measures during the outbreak. Additionally, wvdl will continue to play an active role in numerous nahln working groups and committees and continue to lead a bovine germplasm movement protocol in the event of a FMD outbreak. Wvdl expects to continue collaboration with state and federal partners, as well as other veterinary diagnostic laboratories to achieve the common goal of nahln program to protect agriculture in the united states.