Zoonoses--diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans, such as rabies, tuberculosis and anthrax--are the subject of a new reference publication from the Animal Welfare Information Center of the National Agricultural Library. The new publication is called "Zoonotic Diseases, SRB 97-04, Special Reference Briefs Series."

NAL is part of the Agricultural Research Service, chief research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. NAL is the largest agricultural library in the world and one of four national libraries of the United States, along with the Library of Congress, the National Library of Medicine and the National Library of Education.

Many zoonoses also are transmissible from humans to animals.

The new publication contains bibliographic citations from NAL's AGRICOLA database and from the Medline database of the National Library of Medicine. Nearly 300 articles are listed, most of which are available in the NAL collection.

The publication would be of particular interest to people doing research on zoonoses, to scientists who use animals in research, to animal caretakers and perhaps to farmers and other animal handlers.

Copies of the publication are available free of charge while supplies last by contacting the Animal Welfare Information Center, National Agricultural Library, 10301 Baltimore Avenue, Beltsville, MD 20705-2351, telephone (301) 504-5558, e-mail: awic@nal.usda.gov.

Scientific contact: Brian Norris, National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, Md. 20705; telephone (301) 504-6778, fax (301) 504-5472, e-mail bnorris@nal.usda.gov