August 25, 2006

Lack of trained vets may cause disease to go undetected in the UK

Potentially devastating diseases may be lurking undetected amidst the UK livestock herd as there are not enough vets to go around monitoring the herd, Dr Sandy Clarke, secretary of the British Veterinary Association (BVA) said last week.

Clarke, himself a vet, said that the shrinking number of large animal vets meant that diseases such as Bluetongue, confirmed in Holland this week, could find its way into the UK undetected.

BVA officials and representatives from other industry bodies, including the Scottish NFU, met last week to discuss the problem. Clarke said the BVA and others have highlighted the situation to government authorities such as DEFRA (Department of Farms and Rural Affairs). The government is not doing enough disease surveillance and this may lead to serious problems, Clarke warned.

There is currently a dearth of vets to cater to the UK herd, thus an outbreak may not be picked up until it appears in an abattoir. By that stage, the disease would have been too well-entrenched in the herd, Clarke said.

A small investment by the government could save a large amount of money in the long-run should there is another major outbreak of disease, Clarke added.

Furthermore, retiring vets are not replaced by new graduates and many vets in practice are discouraged by the lack of viability of the livestock sector, he said.

High tuition fees have also turned potential students away from veterinary courses.

The dearth of vets has caused veterinary services to be spread thin across the country, resulting in huge areas in the UK not covered by any trained vets.

In many parts of the UK, large animal vets have to travel more than 100 miles to get to a client, Clarke added.