Investigación en Sanidad Animal en Asturias: una visión histórica de sus orígenes y desarrollo (I y II)

Abstract

The author, in the final stretch of his working life and aware of having been a privileged witness to the birth and development of research in Animal Health in Asturias, believes it is important to record the main milestones and changes he has experienced. (1) Animal health is a key factor in the development of livestock farming, and is also of vital importance for the national economy and public health, as well as for the maintenance and conservation of animal species diversity. The Autonomous Communities have assumed exclusive jurisdiction over livestock farming, as well as the legislative development and implementation of basic State legislation on animal health. In Asturias, these powers are vested in the Ministry of Rural Environment and Territorial Cohesion. (2) One of the major challenges facing Animal Health today is to preserve the well-being and health of animals; monitor the production of healthy food; prevent the transmission of pathogenic microorganisms to humans; and monitor the emergence and dissemination of antimicrobial resistance genes. To achieve this, it is necessary to carry out basic or applied research in different areas. This research is carried out by public organizations (universities, CSIC centers, INIA or regional centers) or private organizations (mainly the pharmaceutical industry). Among the public centers is SERIDA, an organization of the Principality of Asturias, whose purpose is to contribute to the modernization and improvement of the capacities of the regional agri-food sector by promoting and implementing agri-food research and technological development. SERIDA has an Animal Health Department, located at the Deva Animal Biotechnology Center in Gijón. (3) The first thing to note is that Animal Health research in Asturias originated in the routine diagnosis of animal diseases that was carried out, and continues to be carried out, at the Animal Health Laboratory of the Principality of Asturias (LSAPA) located in Jove, Gijón. (4) The LSAPA, which had been attached to SERIDA in the late 1990s, became organically dependent on the then Livestock Production Service at the end of 2000. This reorganization, despite being common in the Administration and the fact that both centers belonged to the Regional Ministry of Rural Environment, represented an important change, since a few laboratory technicians who at that time were participating in research projects continued to be attached to SERIDA, constituting the germ of a new Research Area in Animal Health. Despite this, for almost nine years there was no physical separation, since we all continued to work at the LSAPA facilities in Jove. (5) The completion of this center in 2009 was the culmination of a series of changes that had been developed in previous years. Without going into too much detail, it was due to the need of Gijón City Council to remodel the Somió area, where the Asturias Regional Livestock Station had been located since 1933, building two new facilities instead. One was the Cenero Artificial Insemination Center, managed from that moment on by livestock associations, and the other was the Deva Animal Biotechnology Center.