MU Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory

Slowing the Spread of Disease

MU’s Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Lab screens harvested deer for chronic wasting disease

The Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of Missouri is helping to improve the testing of deer in Missouri after continued reports of chronic wasting disease. This illness is found in deer populations and affects the neurologic system, commonly causing chronic weight loss. Chronic wasting disease is fatal in all deer it infects, and left unchecked, has the potential to wipe out Missouri’s white tail deer population. Throughout Missouri, testing for the disease is vital and MU’s lab, housed in the College of Veterinary Medicine, is aiding statewide efforts by providing testing in a timely manner.

MU's Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory works with the Missouri Department of Conservation to help protect deer as a food source for Missourians and slow the spread of chronic wasting disease.
MU’s Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory works with the Missouri Department of Conservation to help protect deer as a food source for Missourians and slow the spread of chronic wasting disease.

As a Level 1 laboratory in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Animal Health Laboratory Network, the MU laboratory tests more than 1,000 samples of deer tissue a day during the deer hunting season. The lab works with the Missouri Department of Conservation to help protect deer as a food source for Missourians and slow the spread of chronic wasting disease.

“Our partnership with the Missouri Department of Conservation to test for chronic wasting disease helps enhance the testing capacity and capabilities in our state,” said Shuping  Zhang, director of  the laboratory at MU.  “It also helps hunters know the results in a timely manner.”

This rapid data collection allows the disease management team and researchers to gain more insight into chronic wasting disease and its potential to affect humans. While there have been no known cases to date of this disease infecting humans, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises people do not consume the meat of diseased animals.

The Missouri Department of Conservation requires all deer to be presented for testing that are harvested during the opening weekend of firearms season within the Chronic Wasting Disease Management Zone, totaling 29 Missouri counties. For 2019, the Chronic Wasting Disease Management Zone includes all counties within 10 miles of chronic wasting disease detections. Programs such as Share the Harvest, a system that makes it easier for hunters to donate surplus venison to low income individuals in Missouri, will only accept and package meat that tests negative from the 29 counties within the Chronic Wasting Disease Management Zone.

The lab's rapid data collection allows the disease management team and researchers to learn more about chronic wasting disease and its potential to affect humans.
The lab’s rapid data collection allows the disease management team and researchers to learn more about chronic wasting disease and its potential to affect humans.

Voluntary chronic wasting disease sampling is available in several Missouri Department of Conservation offices and numerous taxidermists and meat processors throughout the state. A full list of these participating locations can be found on the Missouri Department of Conservation’s website.

“Encouraging hunters to test deer for chronic wasting disease will allow labs like ours to have a positive impact on the health of the state,” Zhang said.

Story courtesy of the Mizzou News Bureau.
Contact: Brian Consiglio, (573) 882-9144, consigliob@missouri.edu

New MU VMDL Street Address

The city of Columbia has made address changes to a number of university street addresses.  810 E. Campus Loop will no longer be a valid street address to submit to.  Please carefully review the information below to assure safe delivery to the VMDL:

Shipping Methods to Ensure Safe Delivery mail to the MU VMDL

1. FedEx Billable Stamps.  Pre-printed FedEx Billable Stamps that have previously been provided by the MU VMDL are still safe to use.

2. New Address for UPS/FedEx.  Please note that 810 E. Campus Loop is our old address.  Clients that will be submitting via FedEx/UPS courier delivery, but do not have a pre-printed FedEx billable stamp provided by the VMDL, should ship to the following address to help ensure your shipment isn’t delayed.

Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Lab
901 E. Campus Loop
Columbia, MO 65211

3. Via US Post Office.  If submitting via US Post Office; use the following PO Box address:

Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Lab
PO Box 6023
Columbia, MO 65205

After hours samples (not for necropsy) can also be dropped off and logged in at the small animal front desk (enter through emergency doors on the street level) of the Veterinary Health Center – Columbia.

We are sorry for any confusion this may cause.  Thank you for your business!

MU Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory Achieves Level 1 Status

The Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (VMDL) at MU’s College of Veterinary Medicine has moved up in class.

Shuping Zhang, VMDL Director
Shuping Zhang, VMDL Director

“The VMDL is now a Level 1 Laboratory in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN),” says Shuping Zhang, PhD, MS, DACVM, director of the VMDL.

Established in June 2002 with the passage of the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act, NAHLN is a nationally coordinated network of federal, state, and university-associated laboratories that provide animal health diagnostic testing to detect biological threats to the nation’s food animals, thus protecting animal health, public health, and the nation’s food supply. The network labs support early detection, rapid response, and appropriate recovery from high-consequence animal diseases.

NAHLN laboratories are classified into four different levels based on geographic distribution, population density of animals, farm gate values and risk of foreign animal disease introductions as well as the laboratories’ capability, capacity and contributions. Currently, there are 51 NAHLN laboratories; 15 are designated as Level 1. Level 1 laboratories have the capacity to perform tests on large numbers of samples that originate from U.S farmed food animals.

The VMDL had been a Level 2 facility. Based on the recent achievements in disease surveillance, building diagnostic capacity, and promoting the implementation of animal health programs at the national level, the VMDL was promoted.

At this time, the VMDL is Missouri’s only facility that is a Level 1 NAHLN laboratory, fully accredited by American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (AAVLD), and Tier 1 Laboratory of the Food and Drug Administration Veterinary Laboratory Investigation and Response Network.

“Under the NAHLN program, the MU VMDL plays a critical leadership role in the diagnosis, surveillance, and response to diseases that could be biological threats to animals and the public,” says Zhang, who also serves as a clinical microbiologist at the VMDL and is a professor of veterinary pathobiology. “These diseases include avian influenza, exotic Newcastle disease in poultry, classical swine fever or hog cholera, chronic wasting disease in deer and elk, contagious equine metritis, foot-and-mouth disease, pseudorabies, porcine epidemic diarrhea, swine Senecavirus, vesicular stomatitis that affects cattle, horses and pigs, and antimicrobial resistance in major animal species.

“As a full-service, all-species diagnostic laboratory, the VMDL serves the entire state of Missouri, trains veterinary students and residents, and supports biomedical and translational research,” Zhang continues. “This designation of Level 1 signifies our high-quality service, professional and technical capabilities, and contributions to regional and national animal health programs. This new status will enable us to receive additional federal funding for rapid diagnosis and surveillance of high-consequence animal diseases.  Our clients will benefit from a better-funded and nationally recognized VMDL.”

Message from the Director

The University of Missouri Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (VMDL) is a full-service veterinary diagnostic laboratory and Missouri’s only laboratory accredited by the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians. The VMDL is a Level I Lab of the National Animal Health Laboratory Network, Tier I Lab of the FDA Veterinary Laboratory Response Network, and a National Poultry Improvement Plan authorized lab. The VMDL maintains an effective quality assurance and quality control program.

The VMDL has formal anatomical pathology, clinical pathology, and clinical microbiology training programs. The VMDL faculty hold academic appointments in the Departments of Veterinary Pathobiology and Veterinary Biomedical Sciences. The director is administratively responsible to the dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine for the overall operation of the laboratory and its multiple missions of public service, teaching, research and continuing education/extension.

The VMDL faculty and staff work diligently to provide relevant, timely and cost-effective diagnostic services to our clients and to create a positive learning environment for our students and residents. In 2024, veterinarians, animal owners and researchers from 103 Missouri counties and cities, as well as from 51 states and provinces outside Missouri, continued to rely on the Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory’s (VMDL) diagnostic services. The lab performed approximately 63,500 total cases and conducted nearly 204,500 tests.

About the MU VMDL

The VMDL is a full-service laboratory accredited by the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (AAVLD). The VMDL provides in-depth laboratory diagnostic support to veterinary practitioners, livestock and poultry industry interests, companion animal interests, wildlife conservationists, scientists utilizing animals in their research throughout the university, state and regulatory officials, and clinicians of the MU Veterinary Health Center.

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Columbia, MO 65211

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