Practising veterinary surgeons are in the front line of this disease surveillance process and are most likely to be the first to observe changes in clinical presentation, severity or increased incidence of disease in both domestic livestock and companion species. They are also the principal agency by which effective animal disease control at farm or household level can be instigated and are best placed to advise livestock keepers and other animal owners of ‘best practice’ by providing advice and training. All of these factors have been recognised in the recently published Defra Animal Health and Welfare Strategy (AHWS).

Campylobacter jejuni

Currently, private veterinary surgeons are actively engaged in important disease surveillance for endemic and exotic notifiable diseases and for new and emerging conditions. Their role as local veterinary inspectors (LVI) includes regular visits to farms to investigate abortions for Brucella abortus infection and to screen animals for Bovine TB and this function may be developed further as a result of the implementation of the AHWS.

Private veterinary surgeons are also an important part of the surveillance process that detects new and emerging diseases and changing trends in endemic diseases. The relationship between VLA and the private veterinary surgeon is an important part of this process.

VLA’s network of Regional Laboratories (formerly known as VI Centres), which has recently been expanded to include two Disease Surveillance Centres at Liverpool Veterinary School and the Royal Veterinary College, have been supporting veterinary practices to make accurate diagnoses and to investigate unusual disease incidents for over 80 years. This relationship has enabled VLA to gather important, high quality surveillance data to monitor trends in endemic diseases and to detect new and emerging conditions. VLA is heavily dependent upon the activities of veterinary practitioners in the field for the collection of this data, which has been used to inform and advise government departments responsible for disease control in both the animal and human population. In the future, this data will make an important contribution to the Rapid Analysis and Detection of Animal related Risk (RADAR) data warehouse, being developed as part of the Defra Surveillance Strategy, and veterinary practices may also be in a position to contribute primary disease data from their farm clients.

VLA’s network of Regional Laboratories and Disease Surveillance Centres Click here to open

Veterinary surgeons in large animal practice play a pivotal role in the development of effective herd health plans for their clients, a process which generates disease surveillance data. Companion animal practices also record disease data for individual patients and contribute to national surveillance data via the Dog and Cat Travel and Risk Information (DACTARI) database, to monitor the presence of exotic diseases in companion animals, which may have been acquired from overseas visits since the introduction of the Pet Travel Scheme.

The relationship VLA enjoys with the private veterinary surgeon has a good track record of detecting new diseases. The most significant livestock disease of modern times (BSE) was detected and evaluated as a result of this working relationship.

Other examples include diseases such as postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS) in pigs and contagious ovine digital dermatitis (CODD) in sheep.

Contagious ovine digital dermatitis

VLA intends to continue to nurture this important relationship by supporting veterinary practices in making accurate diagnoses, to help them solve difficult disease problems on the farm and to support the operation of veterinary herd health plans and disease control initiatives. VLA will also continue to provide high quality data on disease surveillance for government departments and other interested parties to assist in the control and prevention of animal diseases and the protection of the human population from the risk of zoonotic infection and threats to the food chain.