•! DAFF Veterinary Laboratory Service (VLS)
•! Functions of the VLS
•! Active and Passive surveillance
Veterinary
Laboratories
DAFF Laboratories
Agricultural
Laboratories
Minister for Agriculture
Secretary General
MAC
Veterinary laboratories
•! Bacteriology
•! Pathology
•! Virology
•! Veterinary Public Health Regulatory Lab.
•! Regional Veterinary Laboratories
•! Blood Testing Laboratory (Cork)
Functions of the VLS
•! Regulatory – NRLs; DAFF schemes
= Active surveillance
•! Diagnostic ! aggregate data on production diseases
= Passive surveillance
•! Applied research and development
= targeted surveys and improved tools ± methods for surveillance
Reasons for surveillance of disease in
farmed animals
Production
•! inform disease control measures
•! enhance profitability
Trade
•! substantiate freedom from specific diseases
•! provide reassurance re animal health
Animal and Public health •! recognition of novel, exotic or zoonotic disease
Specific Divisions at CVRL
Bacteriology •! Salmonella, VTEC, AMR
Campylobacter
•! TB/ParaTB
•! Parasitology
Pathology •! Diagnostic histopathology
•! TSEs •! Clinical chemistry
Virology •! Class A diseases
•! Export/AI
•! Diagnostic (endemic viral diseases)
VPHRL •! Regulatory controls on export
meat plants
•! Chemistry
•! Microbiology
Salmonella
Campylobacter
Verotoxigenic E. coli
Staph. aureus
Antimicrobial Resistance
Parasites
Listeria (DSL)
Chemical Residues
TSE’s
•! Range of competencies at Backweston
•! Integrated with DAFF inspection services
•! DVOs; export meat plants
•! DAFF IT systems – AHCS
•! “NRL for food, feed and animal health”
DAFF disease control/eradication
•! Bovine Tuberculosis (Mycobacterium bovis)
•! Bovine Brucellosis (Brucella abortus)
•! Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)
•! Scrapie
•! Avian influenza
Current BSE situation in Ireland
•! Very significant decline in the incidence of BSE
in Ireland in recent years
Year of test
Incidence
of test positives
Current BSE situation in Ireland
Total
number of cases
Year of birth
•! 99% of BSE cases in Ireland have been diagnosed in
animals born before the introduction of an enhanced
feed ban in Europe on January 1, 2001
Avian influenza isolates from farmed
birds in Ireland
•! 1983 H5N8 HPAI
•! 1987 H9N2
•! 1989 H7N7
•! 1991 H6N2
•! 1993 H3N8, H9N3
•! 1995 H7N7
•! 1997 H9N2
•! 1998 H7N7
•! 2003 H10N5
•! 2007 H6N2, H10N7
•!HPAI 1
•!LPAI 11
H5 1
H7 3
Periodic surveys
•! EU legislative requirement
•! Substantiate disease freedom
•! Public health concerns
NRL Survey: VTEC O157
confirmation and typing
•! Genotypic characterisation by PCR
–! O serogroup: O157, O111, O26, O145, O103
–! vtx1; vtx2; eae
•! VTEC: vtx and eae positive
•! EPEC: vtx negative and eae positive
•! Non-pathogenic E. coli O157: vtx and eae negative
•! Antimicrobial Resistance
•! Molecular typing
•! Establish national reference facility for
Cryptosporidium in Water
•! Standardise Cryptosporidium testing in Ireland –
including genotyping
•! Survey of public water supplies
•! Emerging contaminants
Cryptosporidium Reference Laboratory
A collaborative project involving EPA, DAFF, UCD
Regional Veterinary
Laboratories (RVLs)
SLIGO
ATHLONE
DUBLIN
KILKENNY LIMERICK
CORK
Post mortem examination
Follow-up field investigation
Clinical pathology
Rumen fluke infestation
Clinical paramphistome infestation in ruminants in Ireland.
Ger Murray1, Cepta Joyce1, John Fagan1, Jim O’Donovan1, Kevin Gaffney2, Mícheál Casey3, Bob Hanna4, Dónal Sammin2 1Athlone RVL; 2Kilkenny RVL; 3Sligo RVL; 4AFBI, Stormont.
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Tuberculosis (M. bovis) in Goats
•! In early April 2008 7 goats from a herd in North Cork were
submitted to Limerick RVL. TB was confirmed by end April
33
Tuberculosis (M. bovis) in Goats
•! TB rarely seen in goats in Ireland and the UK before 2008
•! Herd history: Purchased entire herd (290 goats) from a Midlands
herd in April 2007.
•! First affected goat on 24/12/07
•! 10 goats to knackery before RVL involvement on 9/4/08
Animal Health Ireland
!!Greater awareness of
economic impact of
endemic disease
!!Industry-led disease
control programmes
!!Requirement for
technical support