Veterinary surveillance: Diseases which are normally absent from the UK
Diseases that we do not have in the UK are usually referred to as ‘exotic diseases’; in North America they are called 'foreign animal diseases'.
Why do we want to spell out what we don’t have?
Some
animal diseases can spread very quickly. They can cause suffering and
distress to the animal and may kill it. For farmed animals the disease,
for example Foot and Mouth Disease, may
stop production of products we use such as milk, wool or meat. Some diseases
may also be dangerous for people. Countries that have these diseases spend
a lot of money and time in treating or vaccinating the animals, and may
not be able to produce enough milk or other products for their needs.
For diseases that affect people, such as rabies,
people who get bitten by an infected animal must be treated very quickly
so that they do not die from rabies. We are lucky in the UK as we do not
have most of these diseases. In order to keep them out we control imports
of all animals or products that might bring each of these diseases in.
More about diseases that you must tell us about
We have laws about the diseases that have major effects like these. The laws make it compulsory for anyone who suspects that the disease is present in an animal they know about, to report it to someone in Government (for example a policeman or Government vet). These diseases are called ‘notifiable diseases’, because of the requirement to ‘notify’ the Government if they are suspected. Once we know about them, we can try to control or eradicate them. We also tell the European Union and the World Organisation for Animal Health (the OIE) when we get these diseases. They can then tell other countries, so they can take precautions against getting them from us. More information about these diseases, both those that we don’t have ‘exotic diseases’, and those that are here ‘endemic diseases’, is given on the Notifiable Diseases page. Note that some notifiable diseases are present in some parts of the UK, but have been eradicated from other parts. For example, Aujeszky's disease has been eradicated from Great Britain, but is still present in Northern Ireland . If you want to know whether a particular disease on that page is exotic, you can look it up in the A-Z Index of diseases.
We watch for any changes in the exotic notifiable diseases where they occur overseas, so we can take extra care if needed, to stop them coming into the country. If a change does occur Defra assesses the possible danger to the UK by carrying out a ‘qualitative risk assessment’. These are reported on the International Disease Monitoring page.
More about other diseases that we don’t believe are here
There are many other exotic diseases for which we do not have laws requiring people to tell us if they suspect them. However some countries would like to know if we are aware of any cases of these exotic, non-notifiable diseases, if they are going to import an animal or product from the UK. So we ask the major veterinary diagnostic laboratories (who would find out about such cases) to tell us if they know of any. To help vets who fill in the export health certificates for animals or products going to these countries, we produce a list of all the diseases we believe we do not have. This is called a ‘country clearance’ declaration; it is updated regularly to take account of any new reports.
How do we know we don’t have them?
Many of these diseases are easy to recognise and we keep in touch with animal owners and vets who might see them, keep them informed of what the diseases look like, and remind them to tell us if they think an animal in their care has an exotic disease. We also carry out regular testing of animals that might have these diseases to check that they do not; for example many thousands of pigs are tested every year for Trichinella, parasite that can infect people, and which we do not have in this country.
Further information
Page reviewed: 2 October
2006
Page last modified:
August 28, 2008