Developing Vaccines to Combat Diseases in Animals: A New Vaccine to Fight Newcastle Disease (Jul 2011)
USDA. ARS. Healthy Animals Newsletter.
Newcastle disease (ND), which can be deadly for domestic and commercial poultry as well as wild bird populations, is a major concern worldwide for the poultry industry. ARS Scientists have developed a new vaccine that reduces mortality and severity of ND symptoms in poultry.

A New Tool to Monitor Honey Bee Health (Jul 15, 2011)
USDA. Agricultural Research Service.
ARS scientists have developed a scientific toolkit that uses genetics to help diagnose diseases in honey bees. Honey bees play an important role in agriculture, adding about $15 billion a year to the value of U.S. crops by pollinating fruit, vegetables, tree nut and berry crops. Their health has taken on a sense of urgency since the discovery in 2006 of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), the mysterious problem that is killing bees worldwide. Researchers are trying to nail down the exact cause or causes of CCD.

USDA Strengthens Efforts to Address Citrus Greening (Jul 11, 2011)
U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Citrus greening threatens to destroy over 1 million commercial citrus acres that have an annual production value of approximately $3 billion across the nation. Yearly losses could reach $10 billion if citrus greening is left unchecked. USDA plans to establish a Citrus Disease Research and Development Advisory Committee comprised of representatives from both the citrus producer and scientific communities to provide leadership to citrus disease scientists.