Animal disease outbreaks can wield devastating economic blows to farmers; such diseases as avian influenza can even cause human illness. Now, a new tool from Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine aims to minimize such outbreaks by helping veterinarians and farmers diagnose poultry diseases more quickly.

A three-hour instructional DVD series and Web-based interactive diagnostic tool, called Poultry Examination and Diagnostics, was produced by veterinarians at the college and funded by an educational contract with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

"This is a unique multimedia resource that will improve diagnostic speed, accuracy and disease response in poultry," said veterinarian Jodi Korich, director of Cornell's Partners in Animal Health, which spearheaded the project. "Veterinarians who specialize in poultry medicine, pathology, public health and education collaborated with the single goal of helping to protect food supplies and public health in the United States and internationally."

The resource is available free of charge on the Web at http://www.partnersah.vet.cornell.edu/vet or via a DVD set that can be viewed in the field using a laptop. The series features such topics as how to properly collect and submit a variety of diagnostic samples from poultry; an 11-part video series that provides a complete step-by-step guide to the necropsy examination of poultry; and an interactive atlas of avian diseases with searchable images showing a variety of avian illnesses.

In an effort to help protect global food supplies, the USDA is distributing these training materials in many developing nations throughout Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

"In economically challenged regions of the world, poultry flocks of all sizes play a vital role in feeding large numbers of people," said Alfonso Torres, associate dean for public policy at the Vet College. "Unfortunately, veterinarians in most developing nations typically have limited access to educational information. Now, Cornell and the USDA have provided educational resources that can help ensure better veterinary health care to flocks of all sizes."

Stephanie Specchio is communications director at the College of Veterinary Medicine.