Welsh livestock disease surveillance network ‘more feasible’ after pilot

The development of a national surveillance system for Welsh livestock farming, which could make tackling potential disease threats easier, is now more realistic following successful pilots, officials have claimed.

Hundreds of submissions were made to the Practice Syndromic Surveillance Data Collection Project during the test programmes, which involved six veterinary practices.

Scheme leaders now hope further revisions to the system can make its usage simpler and ultimately encourage more practices across the country to get involved.

Collaboration

The initiative, which is part of the broader Arwain DGC programme promoting responsible antimicrobial usage, is being led by the Wales Veterinary Science Centre (WVSC) in Aberystwyth, in collaboration with veterinary delivery partner Iechyd Da.

Iechyd Da vet Robert Smith said: “By continuing to develop and simplify the processes initiated by the pilot project, the prospect of setting up a network of sentinel practices or personnel up across Wales to collect this important surveillance data becomes more feasible.”

The surveillance system collects disease symptom data from a network of vets across Wales, enabling livestock populations’ health to be monitored.

Disease threats

The initiative then allows for vets, farmers and other stakeholders to be alerted to potential disease threats, and allows for earlier action to either prevent outbreaks or further spread.

Officials said currently a range of data collection methods were being used in practices across Wales.

But they argue that wider implementation of the surveillance system can also contribute to the achievement of “one health” aspirations by limiting the use of antibiotics to treat disease.

They have also highlighted the impact of similar schemes elsewhere, including one in Germany and the Netherlands, whose surveillance led to the discovery of a new disease, later named Schmallenberg virus, in 2011.

‘Reduction in reliance’

WVSC centre manager Jon King said: “Reduced disease incidence and targeted prevention will then contribute to the reduction in reliance on antibiotics and other antimicrobials, and slowing the development of antimicrobial resistance.”

The pilots focused on two methods – one of which required vets to use a handheld device designed by Farmvet Systems, the company behind the VetIMPRESS system, to record data that went directly into practice management systems.

The other was based on a redesigned version of the University of Liverpool’s FAVSNET system for small animals, in which vets recorded their findings as normal before uploading relevant data into the system at their practice.

Data submissions

Across the two protocols, nearly 1,000 data submissions, which were all sent to WVSC for collation and further analysis, were made during the pilots and Mr King said: “It has been pleasing to see data coming in through both systems.

“It is hoped that through further simplification and more consistency that more vets and practices will be recruited, leading to good coverage over all of Wales, becoming a useful tool for all stakeholders.”

Meanwhile, Mr Smith said that, while the pilots did not reveal any significant data trends, they did show real time collection by farm vets working in the field was possible.

He added that the schemes had also emphasised the need to avoid disrupting working patterns – particularly at busy times such as lambing and calving – through the implementation of new systems.

Practice participation

Mr Smith said: “We look forward to developing this work further and will be looking at simplifying methods of data collection that will hopefully fit in with normal practice procedures better and, therefore, encourage more widespread practice participation.

“We also want to look at whether it is possible to collect antibiotic usage data from the visit information inputted by the practices.

“If we can establish what syndromes seen in practice are associated with high antibiotic use, we can then concentrate on these in terms of disease control to reduce antibiotic use.”