Farmers collaborate online to face rural uncertainty May 1, 2008
Posted by Andy Roberts in : bluetongue disease, Community , add a commentThe blue tongue disease outbreak in the UK has been relatively dormant over the winter months when midges are not active, but it hasn’t gone away by any means. The good news though, is that an effective vaccine has been developed and made available, and the massive task of widespread vaccination starts today in Norfolk, one week ahead of the Netherlands.
In Kent the farmers are not waiting for the government vets to take the initiative, they have an online network called RAMSAK which is putting together teams of people who will be able to carry out the vaccinations to cattle and sheep across Kent and Sussex for and size of flock or herd.
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kol08/article/default.asp?article_id=40989
Spokesman Chris Smith, said: “The disease requires control due to the fact that the sheep in the area could suffer from 40 per cent death rate and cattle a similar level, so all require vaccination as soon as it becomes available.”
RAMSAK is an example of a rural community using technology to improve collaborative enterprises in the face of an uncertain future, which is a theme that repeats all over the world in diverse circumstances. The blurb on their website explains it thus:
Although farmers have always been good neighbours to one another, the idea of a co-operative to help farmers share resources has only emerged more recently. This is in some part due to better communications, but the ‘ring’ movement in the UK was driven by a feeling of the uncertainties that lay in the future of agriculture.
Three dead swans in Dorset had Bird Flu January 10, 2008
Posted by Andy Roberts in : wildlife, Bird Flu, UK , add a comment
Join the RSPBThe Swannery at Abbotsbury, down on the South Dorset coast has been hit by the deadly H5N1 virus which causes Bird Flu, with three dead swans testing positive for the deadly disease.
This latest case is worrying because it suggests that infection may be originating in wild birds, whereas the outbreak at the Bernard Matthews turkey factory in Suffolk last year looked more like human error with contaminated trucks or feed.
Indeed, the only reason for not beginning a cull of wild birds in the area is given as “because such a move could disperse birds and spread the disease.” according to Guardian News this afternoon
Bird Flu is back November 13, 2007
Posted by Andy Roberts in : Bird Flu , 1 comment so farBird flu is back in the UK with 6,000 turkeys geese and ducks slaughtered at a factory farm near Diss in Norfolk, not that far away from the Bernard Matthews turkey farm in Suffolk which contracted bird flu earlier this year. Tests will reveal later today whether or not this is the same H5N1 strain which can be fatal to humans, although preliminary tests have already narrowed down to the H5 family.
As with last time, suspicion may initially fall on wild birds rather than on Bernard Matthews eastern European connections and poor biosecurity but the RSPB have explained that no wild birds have been found with avian flu anywhere in Europe since August this year and that the annual autumn migration of wild swans and geese is now almost over.
For the latest news keep an eye on Warmwell/h5n1
The actual farm this time is Redgrave Farm, which is run by Redgrave Poultry, part of the Gressingham foods group.
Update: See also January 2008 - Bird flu detected in three dead swans
Bluetongue disease UK outbreak confirmed September 28, 2007
Posted by Andy Roberts in : bluetongue disease , add a commentHopes that the dreaded blue tongue disease may have been prevented from becoming an outbreak by killing the pet highland cows in which it was originally doagnosed have been dashed by new findings that the disease is already passing between cattle and biting insects.
Previous post: what is bluetongue disease?
Today’s news:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article
Farmers were plunged into a new crisis last night after the Government confirmed that deadly bluetongue disease was circulating in cattle and insects.
Tests have shown that the virus - which has killed millions of animals in Europe - is being transmitted by native midges and may never be eradicated from the country.
Deputy chief vet Fred Landeg, declaring an official outbreak, said “a significant number of animals” would be hit.
However, he ruled out culling infected sheep and cattle and said there were no health reasons why infected animals should not be sold for meat.
Warmwell says:
It is important that farmers are not given wrong information. Some repellants for mosquitoes actually attract midges.
and that’s evidenced:
Mosquito Repellent Attracts Culicoides imicola (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae)
The bluetongue situation has been under reported internationally but there are known to be well over 20,000 cases so far, broken down into
10,348 cases in Germany yesterday
3,758, Belgium
3,500+ Netherlands
2,246 cases according to the French Agriculture Ministry
500 Luxembourg
The worry now is that with these figures, bluetongue disease may become endemic in Northern Europe as it is seasonally in Southern Europe and perpetually on the African continent.
What is bluetongue disease? September 25, 2007
Posted by Andy Roberts in : epidemiology, bluetongue disease, foot-and-mouth , 12commentsI’ve been kind of aware that there is another dreadful livestock disease called blue tongue or all-in-one-word bluetongue, mainly from reading the foot and mouth discussions and news. But it wasn’t until a confirmed case of bluetongue disease in the UK on the 22nd September that I sought to find out exactly what it is, how it spreads and the nature of the threat. It turns out that the spread of bluetongue to the UK has been pretty much expected, but the actual arrival of two positively diagnosed cases is another terrible blow to farmers already reeling from restrictions imposed for the ongoing foot-and-moth outbreak and the summer floods which destroyed vast areas of arable crops.
The first place to research is warmwell, the quaintly designed but timely and authoritative site by Mary Critchley. The authors must feel like Cassandra, explaining exactly what needs to be done and then watching disaster unfold as their advice goes unnoticed by those in authority. Perhaps this will begin to change as the EU begins to recommend vaccination as the method to control and eradicate foot and mouth disease. There is even a letter published in the Times Online by DR COLIN G. FINK which explains
There is a lack of understanding within the vet labs’ scientists of the mechanisms of clinical containment of viral disease.
It may be helpful to the Prime Minister’s Cobra group to read Mary Critchley’s voluntary website www.warmwell.com, to which a number of us contribute.
Warmwell is against the government policy of culling, instead advocating the use of ring vaccination as the best means to contain foot an mouth disease, and because culling does nothing to prevent the spread of bluetongue which is not contagious between cattle.
Second cow in Suffolk
Why on earth has it been culled, we wonder. On whose advice and on what grounds? ..this slaughter is not going to stop the disease. It does not spread from cow to cow and hoping that killing a Highland cow will stop other midges feeding on it and getting infected is absurd. There must be thousands of midges in the area and the fact that bluetongue has only just been noticed means the infected midges have been with us for a fortnight or more. Removing these unfortunate animals is not going to stop the problem.
Well my opinion is that removing the two cattle is not going to help spread the disease either, and since they are either going to die a lingering death or else be rendered unproductive then why take any risk at all by keeping them alive?
Bluetongue (Blue Tongue or BT) is an infectious but noncontagious, disease caused by a virus whioch is transmitted by midges feeding on the blood of infected animals. The main animals affected are sheep, goats, cattle and deer. Humans and pigs are not affected by blue tongue
Once infected, the outcome can be completely inapparent in many cases, but can also be fatal. In agriculture, Bluetongue Virus (BTV) more often infects cattle than sheep, but the symptoms in sheep are more severe. It is thought that this particular strain in Europe has had mortality rates of 30 per cent in sheep and 10 per cent in cattle. Milk yield in dairy cattle can also drop to 40 per cent and there is evidence that some animals which contracted the virus in northern Europe in the summer of 2006 have suffered impaired fertility.
Epidemiology
Bluetongue is thought to have originated in Southern Africa, where it is currently persistent infecting antelope, and other game animals. It has also been observed in Australia, the USA, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and more recently Europe. In Europe it BT has become aregular seasonal occurance in the warmer affected Mediterranean countries, but it subsides if temperatures drop. That’s because midges cannot live below 15 degrees centigrade.
Then from around October 1998 whether because of climate change or adapatation, the disease began to spread northward. In August 2006, cases of bluetongue were found in the Netherlands, then Belgium, France, Germany and Luxembourg resulting in millions of deaths.
Why is the disease called bluetongue?
The name, as you would probably expect, comes from one of the unfortunate symptoms which include swelling of the head and the neck, lameness, internal bleeding, and ulcers of the mouth, nose and eyes. In mild cases the symtoms can go unnoticed but in some the tongue may turn blue under pressure caused by swelling. That’s where the obvious name comes from.
best method of control
The best way to fight the blue tongue virus, farming experts say, is by vaccination, since slaughtering infected animals does not make sense while midges are responsible for transmitting bluetongue.
Now that the EU Commission is sanctioning vaccination, the UK government vet Debby Reynolds must begin to take notice.
“We consider that vaccination is an important instrument to fight this disease. It isn’t mandatory but we would look favourably on any (EU-27) member state request to apply vaccination,” an EU Commission official said. (reuters)
But the problem for UK farmers is that the particular strain of the virus that has occurred in the northern EU, and has been confirmed as the cause of the two cases so far in the UK is one called “serotype 8″ and for this there is no vaccine yet available. However two companies are now developing a vaccine for serotype 8 and this is likely to be available in early 2008. The best hope in the meanwhile is for an early winter cold snap to kill off the midges which transmit bluetongue disease.
New UK foot-and-mouth discovered September 12, 2007
Posted by Andy Roberts in : foot-and-mouth , add a commentJust as everything was getting back to normal terrible news that a new outbreak of foot and mouth disease has been confirmed about ten miles North of Pirbright, the vaccination laboratory, and outside of the previous exclusion zone.
“This is news that no one wanted to hear” said Hilary Benn, secretary of state for the environment.
FT.com / World - New UK foot-and-mouth discovered
Preliminary tests on samples taken from the cattle farm in Egham confirmed a new outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, Britain’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said.“On the basis of these initial laboratory results and clinical symptoms Debby Reynolds, UK Chief Veterinary Officer, has confirmed foot-and-mouth disease,” Defra said in a statement.
“A movement ban of cattle, sheep, pigs and other ruminants has now been imposed in England and parallel arrangements are being made by the Scottish and Welsh administrations.”
As usual, it’s worth checking Warmwell
“The animals are being culled this afternoon”
and the expert opinion provided by Roger Breeze BVMS, PhD, MRCVS, Formerly Director, Plum Island USA Department of Agriculture.
So let’s set a new mission for a Pirbright (and a Plum Island) of the future, with decent funding, a new facility and talented staff who have some assurance their work is valued. Let’s protect the UK, US and everyone else - permanently - by eliminating foot and mouth as a threat to domestic livestock globally. We can control foot and mouth and the other major transboundary livestock disease threats in our lifetimes. No new technology is needed - just the vision, the will and the resources.
Foot and Mouth - nearly all clear August 30, 2007
Posted by Andy Roberts in : foot-and-mouth, UK , add a commentI know how annoying it can be when a story I’ve been following just drops out of the news spotlight without informing me of the outcome. I want to know how it ended, even if the result was less newsworthy than promised. So just in case anybody is wondering what happened to the small but very worrying outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease in Surrey, UK, this is the present position:
* No new incidences have occurred
* Animal movement restrictions are being lifted except for a small area in Surrey.
* EU export bans on UK meat are also ending.
Almost everything should be back to normal by mid September.
LIVESTOCK markets, animal gatherings and shows will re-commence in Wales from Monday (September 3), Welsh Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones has announced.
It also expected that activities will be able to resume in England from the same date, although this is still to be formally confirmed.
And on the subject of the cause of the outbreak:
Investigation by the U.K. Veterinary Medicines Directorate turned up no evidence of the virus coming from the Merial operation. No source for the infection has been found to date.
FMD hits another herd - Calls for vaccination August 7, 2007
Posted by Andy Roberts in : foot-and-mouth, UK , add a commentBad news from Surry, where another suspected case of foot and mouth disease in cattle has led to immediate death of a herd.
BBC news reported yesterday
Fresh cull in foot-and-mouth zone
Protection zones surround the affected sites
A fresh case of foot-and-mouth disease is suspected in Surrey, the chief veterinary officer has confirmed. Cattle, within the 3km protection zone set up around the farm where the first outbreak occurred, are being culled as a precaution.
But in a repeat of the controversy surrounding UK government action during the devastating 2001 outbreak, there are already calls for a programme of vaccination to be implemented as an alternative to shooting out livestock.
Johnathan Miller:
The situation is the perfect scenario for vaccination. The specific virus is known. There is currently just one cluster of disease hence a ring vaccination scheme can be implemented with high confidence.
August 6/7 2007 ~ Not good news. Clinical signs found in another herd.
NOW will you vaccinate?
Another herd has been identified with clinical signs within the larger protection zone. Debby Reynolds has ordered that the herd be culled as soon as practicable. As an emailer comments , if as many as 39 of the Woolford cattle really tested positive for disease “it may be that this has rumbled around longer than a week or so. That is not good news, if this small farm is not the index case.”
This is the very moment that emergency ring vaccination of all susceptible animals starting from the outside of the surveillance zone should begin. The 67 strain, now designated FMDV-O1 BFS 1860/UK/67, was particularly prone to air-borne spread and could even still be air-borne. (Rounding up the now possibly infected roe deer that roam freely in the Protection Zone and killing them all in a pen would not prove easy, either. Vaccination is now urgent and essential.)
Test results to establish whether any of the slaughtered cows at the second farm were indeed infected with foot-and-mouth disease are being awaited by anxious farmers. The results are due out today, Tuesday 7th August.
Worryingly for the rural tourist industry, Britain’s Environment Secretary Hilary Benn, responding to concerned farmers said the issue of footpath closures would be investigated immediately.
Questions about Pirbright August 5, 2007
Posted by Andy Roberts in : foot-and-mouth, UK , add a comment 
Pirbright is the location of The Pirbright Laboratory of the Institute of Animal Health, and is currently the number one suspect as the source of the foot and mouth disease virus in the outbreak at a small farm in Wanborough, Surrey. The IAH is a quango sponsored by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council with clients including Defra, the Department of Health and the Department of International Development. Biohazardous research and training is routinely performed at Pirbright.
The laboratory is also a world reference centre for the Office International des Épizooties and the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) for the diagnosis of diseases in an emergency so all known strains of FMD are held at Pirbright for reference.
Jonathan Miller asks some pertinent questions:
A more inconvenient truth about Pirbright is that it is the wrong laboratory in the wrong place. The American equivalent FMD lab is on an island and answers to the Department of Homeland Security. Putting an virology lab next to the A323 might seem a counter-intuitive arrangement.
We need to know much more about Pirbright and the Institute for Animal Health, the quango that operates it and its current relationship with Defra. The annual report is here. The IAH claims to be “advancing, safeguarding and improving” animal health whereas in fact it has recently accomplished something else entirely. The commercial relationships of the IAH are also pretty opaque. To what extent had the IAH turned Pirbright into a vaccine factory, operated by a French pharmaceutical company? These are things we need to know.
Roe deer may have transmitted foot and mouth disease August 5, 2007
Posted by Andy Roberts in : foot-and-mouth, UK , add a commentBy scouting around discussions on the internet it is clear that an uneasy relationship exists
between farmers and government departments and vets. There’s also a body of well informed knowledge in the public domain which sometimes challenges the idea that authority knows best. Ahead of the mainstream media then, here is the story that roe deer may be responsible for transmitting the 01 BFS 67 foot and mouth disease virus between the Surrey factory which manufactures vaccines for export, and local farms such as that where the current outbreak began. From http://www.warmwell.com/:
Foot and Mouth disease UK 2007
Roe deer move between Pirbright and local farms.
“Roe deer occur widely on Surrey’s commons, and were even recorded on quite small sites in relatively built-up areas”: (DEFRA funded wildlife project pdf) . The A31, inside the 3km exclusion zone, had to be disinfected yesterday because a deer was hit by a car. Woolford farm is separated from Pirbright by an arable farm, a wood and a golf course. It does not take much imagination to predict that any escape of the 01 BFS 67 virus from IAH Pirbright or the Merial laboratory could now be infecting these deer.
It is a vaccine strain 01 BFS 67 - one that was being used at Pirbright in July
Professor Hugh Pennington interviewed on BBC News 24 gives as his opinion that the source virus is identical to that in vaccine work being done at Pirbright and very possibly excaped from there.
is an online professional who initiated DARnet 
