Veterinary surveillance: Disease profiles
What are profiles?
A ‘profile’ is a set of information about an animal disease
or condition. It concentrates on how we in the UK look for and control
it. We put together information that is not available in one place anywhere
else. This allows us to compare the dangers from different diseases.
The main purpose of profiles is to provide this information for Government.
It helps Government to make decisions about how to deal with different
animal diseases or conditions. As the profiles are on the internet, everyone
can see the basis on which decisions are made and can comment on it if
they wish. Profiles will also be useful to anyone to whom animals and
animal health are important. The main users of profiles are likely to
be government policy makers, vets, animal owners, diagnostic laboratories,
and any commercial industries with an interest in animal health and welfare.
Profiles are different from a textbook or encyclopaedia as the information
will be kept electronically in a database. This means that it easy to
select and read only the information you want. You will be able to make
your own report that has particular bits of information about one disease,
or the same information about several diseases (or conditions). The information
in profiles is checked by experts to make sure it is correct, and is kept
up-to-date.
Profiles are written in more technical language than other disease descriptions
on this website. Visit the A-Z Index of diseases
if you want a short, simple description.
What types of profile are there?
There is only one type of profile, the 'full profile', but a wide range of different reports will be able to be produced from the database when it is complete.
Full profiles - Contain comprehensive information about
a particular disease or condition in a ‘one-stop-shop’.
Summary Profiles - Have been developed from the full
profile to include a review of the key aspects of the disease .
What sort of information do detailed profiles contain?
Profiles give detailed, fairly technical information about each disease or condition. The information is held in sections which describe the disease or condition (what it looks like, what sort of animals it affects, which countries have it, how it can be diagnosed etc), whether and how it can affect people, what UK laws there are about it, how we look for it and control it, and what reports there are about it. This example of a detailed Rabies profile shows the full details of the type of information held.
- Rabies disease profile
(38 KB)
How can I use profiles?
You can find out all about a particular disease or condition by looking at the full profile. Once the database has been developed, if you want to know about a particular feature of several diseases you will be able to look at one of the standard reports that will be available. If these don’t meet your needs, you will be able to ask the database to produce a report that includes information that you have chosen. For example a standard report might list all the diseases of cattle that can affect people, and give some information on where the diseases happen, and how many animals are affected.
More profiles will be made available as the work continues.
What profiles are available?
The full profiles that have been written so far are available in the appropriate section of the A-Z Index of diseases for the following diseases:
Please note the disease profiles below are currently being updated.
African Swine Fever, Avian Influenza, Bluetongue, Bovine Brucellosis, Bovine tuberculosis, campylobacter, Caseous lymphadenitis, Classical Swine Fever, Contagious Caprine Pleuropneumonia, E. coli 0157, Foot and Mouth disease, Hepatitis E, Johne’s disease, Louping-ill, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Newcastle Disease, rabies, salmonella, toxoplasmosis, trichinella and west nile fever.
All of these profiles also have a summary profile. A number of additional summary profiles have been drafted in support of the Animal Health and Welfare Strategy.
How are profiles created?
Each section of the profile is written by someone who knows the subject. For example the parts that describe the disease are written by a vet or scientist who works with the disease. Civil servants who look after the policy for the disease or condition will help write the parts that describe the law or government policy for that disease. Once the section has been written, other people with similar skills or knowledge check it to make sure it is correct. These people tell us when their sections should be checked or up-dated, and the database will be set up to tell us when this time comes.
Further information
Page last modified: 1 December, 2006
Page last reviewed:
28 August, 2008