October 2019
EUFMDis
CVERA has supported Ireland’s role in the EuFMDiS project, a European foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) modelling programme. The primary function of the model is to promote evaluation of emergency preparedness for exotic animal disease incursions, discussions amongst participating European National Disease Control Centres, and engagement of stakeholders. CVERA collaborated with the disease modellers to adapt the model for Ireland as well as aggregating detailed data for the model on direct animal movements, animal populations, markets and indirect contacts between farms. For more information please visit: (opens in a new window)http://www.fao.org/eufmd/global-situation/eufmdis/en/
Foot and Mouth Disease atmospheric dispersion system
A decision support system to aid in the risk evaluation of airborne animal diseases was developed for Ireland. The system's primary objective is to assist in risk evaluation of the airborne spread of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD). The operational system was developed by Met Éireann – the Irish Meteorological Service and CVERA, in co-operation with NOAA-ARL (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – Air Resources Laboratory) and ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts). The infrastructure largely relies on the HYSPLIT dispersion model driven by both ECMWF meteorological forecasts for longer range simulations, and HARMONIE-AROME meteorological forecasts, a high resolution local area meteorological model, ideal for shorter range national emissions. Following on from previous work by the Bureau of Meteorology, Australia as well as the Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, further modifications were made to the HYSPLIT source code to improve the model's characterisation of the Foot and Mouth Disease virus. FMD is a highly infectious disease among cloven hoofed animals that can transmit via airborne means. Biological characteristics related to temperature, humidity, lifespan as well as atmospheric washout were all incorporated either through new or existing functionality of the dispersion model. Combining the model dispersion capabilities of HYSPLIT with a virus emission model and GIS mapping software with farmland zoning, the disease dispersion system becomes a powerful analysis and decision support tool. This airborne animal disease atmospheric dispersion system helps improve emergency preparedness, as well as aid confinement and eradication strategies for relevant Irish authorities, during a disease outbreak. The associated open access paper appears in Advances in Science and Research and is available at (opens in a new window)here.
European perspectives on efforts to reduce antimicrobial usage in food animal production
New regulations on veterinary medicines and medicated feed will substantially influence antimicrobial prescribing and usage throughout Europe into the future. In an invited talk at the 70th Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Animal Science (EAAP 2019, held in Ghent, Belgium during late August), Simon More presented an overview of efforts within Europe to reduce antimicrobial usage in food animal production. Substantial scientific progress has been made on the measurement of antimicrobial usage, including at herd-level, and on the objective measurement of farm biosecurity. Further, in a number of EU member states, monitoring systems for usage are well-established, allowing benchmarking for veterinarians and farms and monitoring of national and industry-level trends. The new regulations offer an important springboard for further progress, including in Ireland, in order to preserve the efficacy of existing antimicrobials.
Áine Collins joins CVERA
We are delighted that Dr Áine Collins has joined CVERA in her role as Veterinary Epidemiologist. Áine qualified from the UCD School of Veterinary Medicine in 2013. Following graduation, Áine travelled to École Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse, France, to undertake a veterinary internship farm animal practice, herd health and necropsy examination. Motivated by a keen interest in novel emerging pathogens, Áine returned to Ireland in 2014 to undertake a PhD with the UCD School of Veterinary Medicine and Teagasc on Schmallenberg virus (SBV) in Irish dairy herds, with a special focus on the epidemiology, virology and entomology of this virus. Subsequently, Áine commenced a role as Veterinary Inspector with the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine in 2017 where she worked in the Veterinary Public Health Inspection Service.
M. bovis 2020 abstract submission is now open
Abstract submission and registration for M. bovis 2020 has opened. Conference themes include: One Health and zoonotic Tb, immunology and genetics of host resistance, management of Tb in wildlife, social science and economics, national control strategies, diagnostics development and strategies & epidemiological tools and application. All abstracts will be reviewed by the Scientific Committee prior to acceptance. The deadline for abstract submission is 12th January 2020. For more information please visit: (opens in a new window)https://www.mbovis2022.com/
Congratulations to Jarlath O'Connor on successfully defending his DGov thesis
Dr. Jarlath O’Connor recently defended his DGov thesis titled “Assessment of the perceptions of Stakeholders to Bovine Tuberculosis Eradication in Ireland and the role of collaborative governance”. This research examined the attitudes and perceptions of key stakeholders of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) eradication in Ireland. Additionally, this research explored the attitude of stakeholders to using a collaborative governance approach to achieve that target, given a governmental target of eradication by 2030. This research was informed by the theory of collaborative governance which holds that public administrators should directly engage non-state stakeholders in a collective decision-making process that is consensus-oriented, deliberative and that aims to make or implement public policy. Interpretative phenomenological analysis, a qualitative research methodology, was used to describe, explain and understand the perspectives of study participants on bTB eradication.
May 2019
Can bovine TB be eradicated from the Republic of Ireland? Could this be achieved by 2030?
‘Are we doing enough to eradicate bovine TB from Ireland?’ is a critical question for the national TB eradication programme. More specifically, ‘Will we be doing enough to eradicate bovine TB from Ireland once national badger vaccination has been added to all current controls?’. If so and relevant to current national targets, it is also logical to ask ‘Could this be achieved by 2030?’. In this paper, Simon More seeks to answer these questions, after considering all available evidence from Irish and international research. The paper, available in the Irish Veterinary Journal (opens in a new window)(72, 3), is further to a similar discussion with the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine, on 26 February 2019.
Characteristics of Mycobacterium bovis infected herds tested with the interferon-gamma assay
The IFN-γ (interferon gamma) assay is used in Ireland as an ancillary diagnostic test to the single intradermal comparative tuberculin test (SICTT) to maximise the detection of Mycobacterium bovis infected animals (bTB) in cattle herds. Understanding the relationships between herd and animal risk factors and IFN-γ test results is critical to the development and evaluation of policy measures on how best to use the test. In this study, we set out to characterise Irish herds with IFN-γ test positive animals in terms of herd size, number of SICTT reactors and number of IFN-γ positive tests, and to evaluate the IFN-γ test in terms of test cut-off values. The results of this study are published in a paper by Clegg et al. in Preventive Veterinary Medicine (opens in a new window)(168, 52-59).
STOC free: an innovative framework to compare probability of freedom from infection in heterogeneous control programmes
Freedom from infection is an important concept in the context of livestock trade. Once freedom has been reached, safe trade is essential to ensure that this status is protected. Currently in Europe, there are a variety of different (generally national) control programmes for important infectious diseases of cattle. Given these differences, it is not possible to directly compare confidence of freedom between programmes. The aim of STOC free, which is a collaborative project between six European countries, is to develop and validate a framework that enables the confidence of freedom from different control programmes to be compared in a transparent and standardised manner across herds, regions or countries. Using Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus (BVDV) as an example, Van Roon et al. consider these issues in a recent paper in Frontiers in Veterinary Science (opens in a new window)(6, 133).
Visit by the Chief Veterinary Officer for Wales to UCD
Dr Christianne Glossop, the Chief Veterinary Officer for Wales, and Professor Glyn Hewinson from Aberystwyth University (and Lead Scientist for Bovine TB at the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) near London) visited UCD in May. A Centre of Excellence for Bovine Tuberculosis for Wales was recently established at Aberystwyth University to provide scientific expertise in support of national policy decision-making. On 1 and 2 May, Christianne and Glyn met with DAFM and UCD colleagues to learn from Irish experiences of success at the science:policy interface. In other words, what works well (and not so well) to ensure the delivery of high-quality science to inform policy decision-making in TB eradication.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and veterinary epidemiology
Guy McGrath gave a presentation on “GIS and veterinary epidemiology” at the Brown Bag GIS Seminar which was organised by the UCD School of Geography. Recent papers were used to illustrate how GIS technology, techniques and analysis are used extensively in veterinary epidemiological studies. Other topics discussed at the seminar included “GIS in transportation research”, “Using GIS to enhance our understanding of atmospheric ammonia impacts in Ireland” and a “Participative online GIS tool for environmental sensitivity mapping”.
Perspectives from the science-policy interface
Professor Simon More gave The Gareth Davies Lecture at the 2019 conference and annual general meeting of the Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine ((opens in a new window)SVEPM) which took place in Utrecht, The Netherlands in March. Simon presented on the topic of “Perspectives from the science-policy interface”, reflecting on his experiences as a scientist seeking to inform national decision-making in animal health and welfare by policy colleagues.
PhD research to support bovine TB eradication in the Republic of Ireland
The Quantitative Veterinary Epidemiology group in the Wageningen Institute of Animal Sciences, in association with Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) and CVERA, has recruited two PhD candidates to support the eradication of Bovine Tuberculosis (bTB) in the Republic of Ireland. You Chang, who has a BSc. in Veterinary Medicine from Huazhong Agricultural University and a MSc. in Quantitative Veterinary Epidemiology from Wageningen University and Research, will be based in the Wageningen Institute of Animal Sciences and will examine spatial modelling of bTB multi-host dynamics. Ann Barber, who has a BSc. in Zoology from University College Cork and a MSc. in Quantitative Ecology & Epidemiology from the University of Glasgow, will be based in CVERA and will analyse the spatial heterogeneity in bTB transmission with and without vaccination of badgers.
Dr Miriam Casey-Bryars joins CVERA
We are delighted that Dr Miriam Casey-Bryars has joined CVERA in her role as Veterinary Epidemiologist. Miriam has a degree in Veterinary Medicine from University College Dublin, an MSc in Veterinary Pathology from the University of Bristol, an MSc in Comparative Medicine and a PhD in Veterinary Epidemiology from the University of Glasgow. Miriam’s PhD focused on the epidemiology of foot-and-mouth disease at the wildlife-livestock interface in northern Tanzania. Subsequent to her PhD, Miriam worked in the European Commission for the Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease and since 2015 as a Veterinary Inspector in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine's National Disease Control Centre.
February 2019
PhD research positions to support bovine TB eradication in the Republic of Ireland
The Quantitative Veterinary Epidemiology group in the Wageningen Institute of Animal Sciences, in association with Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) and CVERA, is recruiting two PhD candidates to support the eradication of Bovine Tuberculosis (bTB) in the Republic of Ireland. The roles include a modeller with an interest in infectious disease modelling (based in Wageningen) to work on spatial modelling of bTB multi-host dynamics, and an epidemiologist/biologist (based in Dublin) with good quantitative skills to analyse the spatial heterogeneity in bTB transmission with and without vaccination of badgers. The closing date for applications is the 18th February 2019 and further details can be found (opens in a new window)here.
Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Prof Simon More will appear shortly before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine to discuss general issues relating to bovine tuberculosis. Details of the work conducted by the Joint Committee can be found (opens in a new window)here.
A review of Johne’s disease in dairy herds
Dr. Conor McAloon from the Herd Health & Animal Husbandry Section in the School of Veterinary Medicine has written several review papers in The Veterinary Journal on paratuberculosis in dairy herds with emphasis on epidemiology and on-farm control which can be found (opens in a new window)here and (opens in a new window)here. In addition, Conor has written a key paper in (opens in a new window)Preventive Veterinary Medicine on the low accuracy of Bayesian latent class analysis for estimation of herd-level true prevalence under certain disease characteristics. The results of this study raise questions about the accuracy of published estimates for the herd-level true prevalence of paratuberculosis based on serological testing, using latent class analysis. CVERA contributed to these studies.
Scientific work in support of the national JD control programme
Detailed work has recently been published to support surveillance and control options for Johne’s Disease in Ireland. This work, led by international consultants Evan Sergeant and Ann Meyer with support from colleagues in CVERA, UCD and Animal Health Ireland (AHI), has proved central to the design of the national JD control programme. The papers are published in the Journal of Dairy Science and can be found (opens in a new window)here and (opens in a new window)here.
CVERA welcome a new member to the team
We would like to welcome Jamie Madden to CVERA in his role as biostatistician. Jamie worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland on pharmaco-epidemiology studies where he was exploring the relationship between population drug exposures to breast cancer outcomes. He completed a PhD in Health Services Research (biostatistics and epidemiology) where his thesis involved the modelling of circadian blood pressure patterns. Jamie will be working on a wide range of projects relating to animal health & welfare and public health.