August 23, 2008
New poultry facility to be built in Texas, US
Approval has been given for the construction of a new building for the state poultry diagnostic laboratory in Gonzales, Texas.
The new facility will expand the space and capacity for testing specimens submitted for poultry disease detection at the Gonzales lab, which has been operated by the Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory since 1991.
The laboratory will be located in a major poultry production area, enabling it to continue serving primarily commercial poultry companies, as well as veterinarians and individual producers of domestic fowl, game and exotic birds, according to Dr Tammy Beckham, director of the state veterinary medical diagnostic laboratory.
The routine diagnostic testing performed in the lab also provides the surveillance necessary to detect and contain potential outbreaks of high-consequence diseases such as Exotic Newcastle Disease and highly pathogenic bird flu, Beckham added.
