Animal Diseases

Diseases of livestock and wildlife are not just important for livestock owners or governments, but for everyone.

Both the diseases and the ways in which they are controlled can affect many aspects of our lives through impacts on:

• public health (from introductions of zoonotic diseases into human populations);
• the environment (diseases can lead to species extinctions and thereby change the balance of ecosystems); and
• the economy (controlling animal disease can cost large sums and disrupt industries unrelated to animals, such as tourism).

Centre staff inform the UK government on policies to control cattle TB and foot and mouth disease.  They also work to understand the natural history and transmission dynamics of  H1N1 influenza virus in pigs.

Projects

Tuberculosis in Cattle and Badgers

Research focuses on the design and analysis of the randomized study of badger culling strategies, a field trial conducted over 3,000km² costing roughly £7million per annum. Statistical epidemiological research is key to the development of an increasingly robust scientific body of evidence to underpin policies to limit the transmission of Mycobacterium bovis, the infectious agent of bovine TB.

Foot and Mouth Disease

The devastating impact of the 2001 Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) epidemic made it imperative to investigate factors responsible for its scale and how outbreak control might be further optimised. Guided by a joint DEFRA-BBSRC advisory group, this project addressed these priorities using statistical analysis and mathematical modelling.

Influenza in Pigs

This newly funded research initiative is intended to develop a new understanding of how the pandemic H1N1 virus behaves in pig populations and how interactions between pigs and farm workers could help it to evolve and spread. With this information, it should be possible to inform effective strategies to limit the spread of the virus in both pig herds and the human population.