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A Novel Way to Detect Infection Status of Wildlife likely to have Bovine Tuberculosis (‘Badger Infection Forensics’)

Summary of the impact

A novel, reliable, non-invasive and rapid method has been developed to detect excretion of Mycobacterium bovis, the causal agent of bovine tuberculosis (bTB), into the environment ("shedding") by wildlife hosts. This test has been used to establish the efficacy of the bTB vaccine on reducing environmental contamination by shedding of M. bovis in the faeces (from January 2010). It has also become an important monitoring tool used by VisaVet (European Veterinary Health Surveillance), targeting bTB in wild boar and red deer (from July 2010) to establish bTB reservoirs and take action to protect the cattle stocks. Farmers will benefit and now be able to monitor environmental contamination by M. bovis, which allows them to establish biosecurity best practice.

The method includes both a presence/absence score and a quantitative assay of infectious disease load in faecal matter in the environment. This is the first standard assay to determine environmental contamination, the main route for disease spread to cattle, and allows evaluation of the impacts of vaccination, culling and increased movement of badgers during disease- management strategies. This test also enables precise monitoring of cattle herds infected with bovine tuberculosis (bTB) as it advances from the South West to the North East of England.

Submitting Institution

University of Warwick

Unit of Assessment

Biological Sciences

Summary Impact Type

Environmental

Research Subject Area(s)

Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences: Animal Production, Veterinary Sciences
Medical and Health Sciences: Medical Microbiology

1n. Control of bovine viral diarrhoea virus in livestock through evidence-driven behaviour changes on farms and through veterinarians

Summary of the impact

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.

Submitting Institutions

University of Edinburgh,SRUC

Unit of Assessment

Agriculture, Veterinary and Food Science

Summary Impact Type

Environmental

Research Subject Area(s)

Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences: Animal Production

Improving use of available controls against bovine tuberculosis

Summary of the impact

Despite increasing surveillance, outbreaks of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in the UK have steadily increased over the past two decades, with the disease now costing an estimated £100 million per annum in test and slaughter costs, and compensation payments.

Research by Professor Wood and Drs McKinley and Conlan has determined that successful control efforts will depend upon within-herd surveillance and also on reducing reintroduction from external sources; these results have directly altered the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' (Defra) new (July 2013) bovine TB strategy for England, which directly cites Dr Conlan's research when justifying changes in proposed regulations. On publication this research prompted questions during bovine Tuberculosis debates in both Westminster and the Scottish Parliament by Andrew George (MP, St. Ives) and Helen Eadie (MSP, Cowdenbeath) respectively. The work has also received national and specialist media coverage raising public awareness and understanding of bTB control in cattle.

Submitting Institution

University of Cambridge

Unit of Assessment

Agriculture, Veterinary and Food Science

Summary Impact Type

Economic

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Clinical Sciences

Control Strategies towards eradication of Bovine Viral Diarrhoea

Summary of the impact

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.

Submitting Institution

Royal Veterinary College

Unit of Assessment

Agriculture, Veterinary and Food Science

Summary Impact Type

Economic

Research Subject Area(s)

Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences: Veterinary Sciences
Medical and Health Sciences: Medical Microbiology, Public Health and Health Services

Diagnosis and Control of Neosporosis in Cattle

Summary of the impact

The parasite Neospora caninum is the leading cause of abortion in cattle in the UK, resulting in around 6,000 abortions per year; and a $1.3b pa international problem. There are no effective drugs or vaccines to control neosporosis. University of Liverpool (UoL) research on the development of diagnostic tests, understanding the pathogenesis, epidemiology and transmission of N. caninum has made an important contribution to developing best practise herd health schemes, now offered by the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA) and by a commercial company `myhealthyherd', to eradicate N. caninum infection from a herd. This has enabled cattle farmers to improve their businesses by reducing abortion rates and other costs associated with neosporosis.

Submitting Institution

University of Liverpool

Unit of Assessment

Agriculture, Veterinary and Food Science

Summary Impact Type

Economic

Research Subject Area(s)

Biological Sciences: Microbiology
Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences: Animal Production, Veterinary Sciences

Advancing analgesic use in cattle

Summary of the impact

The use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for their pain-relieving properties in cattle medicine has lagged behind that of other species (e.g. companion animals) where analgesic use is now routine. University of Nottingham (UoN) research exploring the attitudes of vets and farmers to the use of NSAIDs in cattle, and subsequent marketing by Boehringer Ingelheim, a multinational pharmaceutical company, has led to a substantial increase in analgesic use. UoN research increased sales for Boehringer Ingelheim and almost doubled the UK market value of NSAIDs for use in cattle. With administration of up to 2 million additional doses per year, the research had clear benefits for animal welfare.

Submitting Institution

University of Nottingham

Unit of Assessment

Agriculture, Veterinary and Food Science

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences: Animal Production
Medical and Health Sciences: Clinical Sciences

Risk-based surveillance and testing defines government policy on bovine tuberculosis

Summary of the impact

A University of Glasgow bovine tuberculosis (bTB) surveillance model was fundamental to new Scottish Government policy on bTB testing. Implemented on 1st January 2012, the policy change used the Glasgow model to indicate which cattle herds can be exempt from routine testing while still maintaining Scotland's Officially bTB Free status. In 2012 this translated to exemption of more than 30% of Scottish herds from routine testing, with an associated government saving of £150,000. The revised policy also provided savings to the Scottish farming industry in the region of £100,000 (2012) and limited the risks of bTB testing to farmers, veterinarians and cattle. The rapid success of the ground-breaking Scottish research-led bTB policy development has been highlighted by the Civil Service as best practice and has been presented to numerous policy audiences including the European Commission, providing the opportunity to transform industry practices and livestock surveillance policy across the UK and beyond.

Submitting Institution

University of Glasgow

Unit of Assessment

Agriculture, Veterinary and Food Science

Summary Impact Type

Environmental

Research Subject Area(s)

Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences: Animal Production, Veterinary Sciences
Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services

Improved animal health and welfare and economic benefits for farmers from better management of parasites in livestock

Summary of the impact

Research conducted at the University of Bristol between 2003 and 2012 on the ecology, epidemiology and control of parasitic flies and worms has improved animal health and welfare in the UK and is addressing a major constraint on global food production — animal disease, particularly in the context of climate change. These are some of the impacts:

  • In 2011, industry benefited from research on blowfly strike which has provided scientific evidence that strategic early treatment of sheep reduces season-long disease risk and results in financial savings for farmers, particularly where earlier emergence of flies occurs in response to warming temperatures.
  • Between 2008 and 2012, farmers realised a 73% direct saving in the monitoring of gastrointestinal nematodes due to the development of a composite faecal worm egg count (FEC) test and a decrease of up to 75% in the number of treatments given to lambs.
  • Farmers and livestock benefited from the slower development of anthelmintic-resistant parasites as a result of targeted treatment using the composite FEC test developed.

Submitting Institution

University of Bristol

Unit of Assessment

Biological Sciences

Summary Impact Type

Environmental

Research Subject Area(s)

Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences: Animal Production, Veterinary Sciences
Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services

Transmission and control of parasitic zoonoses

Summary of the impact

Transmission and control of parasitic zoonoses focuses on diagnostics development and epidemiological studies on zoonoses, developing approaches for the surveillance, prevention and control of non-vector borne zoonotic pathogens and demonstrating the following impact:

  • Making a contribution to the understanding of the transmission and epidemiology of zoonoses, especially echinococcosis, but also toxoplasmosis and African trypanosomiasis;
  • Altering traditional views on routes of transmission and control options/surveillance at farm or rural community level using molecular ecology and molecular diagnostic approaches;
  • Improving public health and quality of life of the communities and the economies of regions affected through changing national and international public health policy for the surveillance, prevention and control of zoonotic parasitic diseases.

Submitting Institution

University of Salford

Unit of Assessment

Biological Sciences

Summary Impact Type

Health

Research Subject Area(s)

Biological Sciences: Genetics
Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences: Veterinary Sciences
Medical and Health Sciences: Medical Microbiology

Preventing infectious livestock disease in Britain: The implications of history for policy and practice

Summary of the impact

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.

Submitting Institution

King's College London

Unit of Assessment

History

Summary Impact Type

Environmental

Research Subject Area(s)

Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences: Veterinary Sciences

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