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Leading experts form consortium to tackle avian flu
The move follows a year of unprecedented bird flu outbreaks.
Eight UK organisations join forces to find new ways to control the disease.

A new major research consortium dedicated to tackling avian influenza has been announced.

Comprising eight of the UK's top scientific organisations, including the Pirbright Insitute and the Royal Veterinary College (RVC), the consortium will be responsible for developing new strategies to tackle future avian flu outbreaks. 

The move follows a year of unprecedented cases of the disease, with 100 in the UK alone. Scientists hope that, through collaboration and knowledge exchange, the consortium will help find strategies to control the spread of disease.

Among the key aims of the project include: 
  • monitoring current flu virus strains; 
  • understanding the spread of disease in different bird populations; 
  • developing models to predict how the avian influenza virus may spread and; 
  • informing strategies to decrease disease risk and transmission to people.
Professor Munir Iqbal, head of Pirbright’s Avian Influenza Virus group, said:  “The expertise of Pirbright’s researchers will help to achieve the key aims of this consortium, and as an Institute, we are extremely proud to be part of this. 

“Avian influenza is an economically important virus that has devastating effects on the poultry industry, therefore improved understanding of the virus will give us more insight into how it spreads and inform our control strategies to prevent it from spreading to people and other animals.” 

Dr Guillaume Fournié, a senior research fellow at the RVC, said: “As part of this project, the RVC will contribute to improve our understanding of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus dynamics in wild bird populations, at the interface between wild birds and domestic poultry, and its potential to cause large outbreaks among farms. This information will allow us to inform the design of more targeted surveillance activities and risk mitigation interventions better tailored to the UK poultry sector.”

The UK’s chief veterinary officer, Christine Middlemiss, added: "This new consortium will allow us to combine our expertise at a national level to increase the speed and quality of our research, ensuring we can develop new strategies to aid our efforts against this insidious disease and hopefully in time reduce the impact on the poultry sector."

The project has been made possible thanks to £1.5 million in funding from the Biotechnology and Biosciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Consortium members include the Animal and Plant Health Agency, The Pirbright Institute, Royal Veterinary College, Roslin Institute, University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, University of Leeds and University of Nottingham.

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Vets to run marathon for World Animal Protection

News Story 1
 Two recently graduated veterinary surgeons will be running the London Marathon in April to raise money for the charity World Animal Protection.

Alex Bartlett and Maeve O'Neill plan to run the race together if they are given the same start times.

Dr O'Neill said: "You're always limited in what you can do to help animals, so it is nice to raise money for a charity that helps animals around the world."

Dr Bartlett added: "I have never run a marathon before and am excited to run my first one for such a good cause!"

Both Dr Bartlett and Dr O'Neill have fundraising pages online. 

Click here for more...
News Shorts
BSAVA releases new Guide to Procedures

The British Small Animal Veterinary Association (BSAVA) has published a new edition of its Guide to Procedures for Small Animal Practice.

It has added four new procedures; cystostomy tube placement, endotracheal intubation, point-of-care ultrasound and wet-to-dry dressings.

BSAVA says that it is an essential step-by-step guide to diagnostic and therapeutic procedures performed in practice. The textbook includes new images and illustrations, as well as high-definition videos for use prior to procedures.

Nick Bexfield and Julia Riggs, editors of the new edition, said: "We have built upon the success of the previous editions by responding to the feedback received from the BSAVA readership, and hope this new guide helps to further increase the confidence and accuracy with which these procedures are performed."

Print copies are available in the BSAVA store, with a digital version in the BSAVA library.