Atlantic Veterinary College opens P.E.I. facility to monitor animal diseases

The Atlantic Veterinary College is opening a foreign animal disease testing laboratory at the University of Prince Edward Island. (Source: University of Prince Edward Island)

The Atlantic Veterinary College is opening a foreign animal disease testing laboratory at the University of Prince Edward Island to monitor infections.

The $1.9 million facility will allow for improved diagnostic capabilities for diseases like swine fever, foot-and-mouth disease, African swine fever, avian influenza and avian paramyxovirus 1, according to a news release.

“This facility allows us to be ahead of the emerging threats to our animal, environmental, and human health,” said Dr. Carmencita Yason, clinical virologist at the Veterinary College. “By strengthening our diagnostic infrastructure at the AVC, we can better serve the veterinary community, farmers, and food animal industries that rely on fast and accurate disease detection of foreign animal diseases.”

The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency spent $1.3 million on the facility and the Veterinary College contributed $600,000.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency will inspect the facility to certify its biocontainment requirement in May. Once the lab is open, veterinarians in the Atlantic region can refer cases of foreign animal diseases to the Veterinary College.

In the event of an outbreak, the facility will send samples to the National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease laboratory in Winnipeg for confirmatory testing.

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