Surveillance and Reporting
Surveillance is the term used to describe everything we do to collect information about animal diseases and to make sure that the 
information gets to those who need it.
Disease surveillance detects trends in diseases, as well as when and where diseases start to spread. It also picks up changes in the virulence of disease pathogens, what new diseases look like, how much risk they represent and changes in sensitivity to, e.g. vaccines for treatment.
We maintain continuous surveillance of animal health and welfare on farms, including checking for infections that could affect human, as well as animal, health.
Our work ranges from 'hands on' surveillance at farms and other premises to monitoring disease status in tandem with the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) and Scottish Agricultural College (SAC).
Responsibility for disease surveillance and reporting resides with a mix of:
- The owners and keepers of animals and their own veterinary surgeons
- Animal Health field staff
- Local Authorities
- Veterinary Laboratories Agency (or Scottish Agricultural College)
- Meat Hygiene Service
- Animal conservation groups and bodies e.g. ornithological groups and wetlands trusts
- Members of the public
Through this network suspicion of disease with be reported and investigated.