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Interdisciplinary research at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) has provided core evidence on which global efforts are based in order to eradicate one of the most economically damaging diseases of the cattle industry. The research findings have helped steer national programmes to eradicate Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) across Europe, South Asia and Australasia, reducing economic losses. Professor Joe Brownlie has additionally led pilot programmes in the UK, providing data for a national scheme, campaigned widely to highlight the issue and secured farming industry awareness and support through media exposure.
Researchers in the Epidemiology Group at the University of Warwick have an international reputation for high-quality mathematical modelling of human infectious diseases, with particular emphasis on population heterogeneity and variability. Such formulations and insights are an important component of predictive modelling performed by Public Health England (PHE), and are helping to shape national policy for a range of vaccine-preventable infections.
The Warwick group was instrumental in providing a range of real-time analyses and advice to UK authorities during the 2009 H1N1 (swine-flu) pandemic, acknowledged by the Department of Health (DoH) to be "fundamental to the construction of the UK's pandemic response" and making an important contribution to the overall programme which "led to the saving of many hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers money, while greatly increasing the health of the Nation". Modelling and analysis carried out at Warwick continue to provide insight into the control and containment of future pandemics and are considered "essential in determining UK pandemic policy".
Impact: Economic / animal health and welfare: Established health schemes to control Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) on Scottish farms and subsequently underpinned the rationale for cost-effective control strategies that have been adopted in health schemes around the UK. The farm-level savings to the industry from future eradication are estimated by Scottish Government to be £50- £80m.
Significance: BVD is a major endemic disease of cattle in Scotland costing the dairy industry about £38M per year and an additional £11M to consumers.
Beneficiaries: Farmers, cattle, animal health authorities.
Attribution: Professors Gunn and Stott (SRUC).
Reach: The associated health schemes began in Scotland (HI Health) and now operate throughout Britain (UK CHeCS (Cattle Health Certification Standards) Health Scheme). The research underpins BVD control schemes in Ireland and other EU Member States resulting in an avoided output loss of between €500 to €4,000 per dairy farm per year.
The research reported here has influenced the Scottish Government's Hepatitis C Action Plans and led to changes in practice in services providing sterile injecting equipment to people who inject drugs (PWID) in Scotland and to reductions in risk behaviours for hepatitis C infection among this population. Specifically, there has been an increase in the availability and uptake of sterile equipment used to prepare and inject drugs and a reduction in sharing of such equipment by PWID. More recent research is beginning to indicate that the changes in Government policy and practice are helping to reduce recent (incident) hepatitis C infections among PWID.
Strathclyde research underpinned formation of the Scottish Chikhwawa Health Initiative (SCHI) in 2006, to deliver tangible health benefits by reducing major causes of disease and death in Chikhwawa, Malawi. Health impact occurred through training of government personnel and community volunteers, combined with increased infrastructure capacity, at health facilities and in the community, producing improvements in water quality, sanitation and communicable disease control. Within the first 2 years of implementation among a population of 5700 people, a 30% reduction in diarrhoeal disease was achieved, and access to safe water improved through increased water points and improved water storage [1]. Initial success saw expansion of the initiative to 150 communities covering a population of 110,000.
Infectious livestock disease poses a major threat to food production, animal welfare, trade, rural ways of life, and sometimes human health. Traditionally, the British government and the veterinary profession have approached its control in top-down fashion, relying on evidence from science and economics. However, controversy over the handling of the 2001 foot and mouth disease epidemic precipitated the recognition of social and cultural influences on understandings of disease and attitudes to their control. Woods' research has brought to light the `human factor' which has operated in the past to influence government, veterinary and farming perceptions of and reactions to livestock disease. Her findings have informed contemporary disease control initiatives, contributed to a culture change in the ways that vets and policy makers think about livestock disease, and convinced them that history offers an important evidence base. Woods' foot and mouth disease research has also had impact in South Korea in the wake of an epidemic there.
A discovery that a tomato extract could help with healthy blood flow has been translated into a functional food ingredient now marketed globally via the spin-out company Provexis plc. Fruitflow® — Provexis' lead product — is the result of findings by researchers at the Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health, now part of the University of Aberdeen, that biologically active constituents in tomatoes inhibit blood platelet aggregation: a known cause of heart attack, stroke and venous thrombosis. In 2009 Fruitflow® was the first food ingredient to meet the requirements of the European Food Safety Agency for products with a specific health claim. Provexis — the University of Aberdeen Rowett Institute spinout — is listed on the AIM market — the London Stock Exchange's international market for smaller growing companies — has seen values of £14 - £60 million and secured co-development agreements with major international partners, including DSM, Unilever and Coca-Cola. This case study demonstrates the direct translation of research to produce a functional food ingredient of interest to global market players.
The claimed impact therefore relates to development of new product, which has received the first ever novel health claim (Article 13.5) from the European Food Safety Authority, and is being marketed as novel food ingredient globally by a multinational company.
Veterinarians have long recognised health problems associated with in-breeding and extreme conformation in various pedigree dogs. However, the `Pedigree Dogs Exposed' documentary in 2008, which particularly featured the plight of Cavalier King Charles Spaniels (CKCS), and resultant independent inquiry reports, to which RVC contributed, brought the extent and severity of the issue into the public eye. RVC's ongoing programme of research linked to interaction with stakeholders has contributed to the changes in breed standards instituted by the Kennel Club (KC); understanding of underlying principles governing the relationship between structure and function and affecting desired traits; developing tools to address conformation-related health problems; and driving changes in breeding practice leading to healthier dogs.
Research conducted by LSHTM into how governments and international organisations are preparing for an influenza pandemic has made an important contribution towards efforts to avoid the risks of up to 150m deaths anticipated by WHO in the event of such a pandemic. Governments, including the UK, and global institutions, have made policy changes and resource allocation decisions directly as a result of this research and technical advice.
Research conducted by Professor Nick Mascie-Taylor on the causes and effects of parasitic infection in Bangladesh, and on the effectiveness of different interventions, led directly to changes in government policy, the roll-out of drug and health education campaigns by the World Health Organisation and the World Bank, and ultimately a reduction in the prevalence of infection and an improvement in the health of Bangladeshi poor. For example, based on recommendations from this research, a two-drug strategy for the control of Filariasis commenced in Bangladesh in 2008; by 2010 twelve districts with high prevalence had been treated, resulting in ~27 million individuals receiving treatment. With this approach microfilaremia prevalence had fallen from about 15% to under 1%.