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Research at the University of Liverpool (UoL) has demonstrated the importance of intestinal tapeworm infection as an important and hitherto unrecognised risk factor for a major life-threatening acute intestinal disease (colic) in the horse. A novel serological test for exposure to the tapeworm infection was developed at UoL to provide a diagnostic tool for research and clinical applications. As a result, "best practice" equine preventive healthcare programmes now include anti-helminth and tapeworm control protocols and anti-tapeworm anthelmintics are licensed for use in the horse and marketed throughout the world. This research has had a major impact on equine health resulting in welfare and economic benefits for horses, their owners, veterinary practices and industry.
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.
Pioneering interdisciplinary research at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) has enabled governments internationally and global health authorities to respond swiftly to the outbreak of a disease that causes huge economic losses, threatens the livelihoods of vulnerable populations in the developing world and endangers human lives. Supported by proactive dissemination, it has shaped the control policies and risk management strategies of the United Nations and governments across Asia, Africa and Europe, as well as a national contingency plan for the UK. And it has demonstrated that costly vaccination campaigns and mass culling programmes can be avoided in efforts to bring the disease under control.
Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI) can be an unintended consequence of healthcare delivery. They are caused by a range of organisms but are often preventable. GCU-led research has reduced avoidable infections in healthcare in the UK and Europe by stimulating policy debate and investment in new healthcare practice and influencing policy decisions, evidence guidelines, and educational practices. Important changes have been made to national and international approaches to meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) screening with cost savings of £7.5 million to the NHS. 28 European countries now use the HAI point prevalence survey validation method determined by our research.
The human influenza A (H5N1) infection emerged in China in 2003 and quickly spread throughout Asia, killing more than half of those infected. Researchers at the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Vietnam (OUCRU) provided rapid information to the World Health Organization (WHO) on the pathological and clinical features of H5N1 infection in humans, as it emerged in Vietnam. The WHO used this front line information to inform recommendations for the investigation, diagnosis, management, and treatment of H5N1 globally, ultimately reducing mortality by up to 19%.
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.
Patients expect and deserve safe health care, but research by the University of Glasgow Dental School in 2000-2005 identified that routine instrument decontamination processes used in UK dental practice were inadequate, with potential for residual body fluid and tissue contamination, leaving patients at risk of infection. These studies led to major changes to decontamination guidance and its implementation, resulting in major improvements to decontamination facilities, procedures and quality assurance in UK dental practice. In Scotland, the government invested £19 million in funding to upgrade equipment and premises, develop updated guidance and to train 7,893 dental staff through NHS Education for Scotland (NES). By December 2012, it was mandatory for all Scottish dental practices to comply with the new standards (`Glennie compliance') to reduce the risk of cross-infection with blood- and tissue-borne diseases such as HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD).
Bristol University's School of Veterinary Sciences, a global leader in feline medicine, was the first UK centre to develop and commercially offer polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and quantitative (q) PCR assays to detect a range of feline infectious and genetic diseases. Since 2008 there has been a dramatic increase in the number of qPCR tests performed, with over 35,000 tests carried out between 2008 and 2013. The results of genetic testing have informed breeding programmes and resulted in a reduced prevalence of genetic disorders such as polycystic kidney disease (PKD). The results of testing for infectious diseases have informed diagnosis and treatment modalities and, together with the genetic testing, have contributed to significant improvements in feline health and welfare. This work has also generated commercial income in excess of £1.7M, which has been used to further research into feline infectious and genetic diseases.
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".
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.