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Cows on a farm. Copyright Photos.com / JupiterImages / Thinkstock 2011
Combating Endemic Diseases of
Farmed Animals for Sustainability
Launched in 2007, the CEDFAS (Combatting Endemic Diseases of Farmed Animals for Sustainability)
Initiative has invested £11.5M in 10 projects to combat the endemic diseases causing the most harm
to farmed animals in the UK.
Endemic animal diseases of farm animals undermine the sustainability of UK farming and hamper
efforts to ensure food security. Collectively they cost farmers and the UK economy hundreds of
millions of pounds a year and cause significantly reduced animal welfare.
The CEDFAS projects aimed to help tackle some of the most harmful and widespread diseases that
commonly affect farmed animals in the UK. The initiative aimed to improve the sustainability of UK
farming by developing new approaches to controlling and managing endemic diseases.
Led by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), the initiative is also
funded by the Scottish Government and some individual projects have additional funding from Defra
and industrial partners.
Details of the 10 projects can be found within.
Bovine tuberculosis
Bovine tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious
respiratory disease of cattle. In 2009 bovine TB was
estimated to have cost the UK economy £90 million
and the number of cases is rising year on year.
Professor Liz Glass of The Roslin Institute at the
University of Edinburgh has been leading a project
investigating new approaches to managing Bovine
TB – a disease which cost the UK economy an
estimated £90 million in 2010 and which is on
the rise. Professor Glass’s team, which includes
colleagues from Queen’s University Belfast and the
Agri Food and Biosciences Institute in Northern
Ireland, has found that some degree of resistance
to Bovine TB is inherited and the team has also
identified genetic markers associated with resistance.
These results mean that it might be possible to
selectively breed cows which are more resistant
to the disease. The group is now working with an
industrial partner, DairyCo, to explore the possibility
of implementing selection for increased resistance in
commercial dairy cattle.
Professor Stephen Gordon of University College
Dublin/VLA Weybridge and his team have also
been working on research to combat Bovine TB.
They have been trying to understand whether the
increasing incidence of bovine TB might be related
to the fact that so many different strains of the
causative bacteria exist. Their project revealed
that although the different strains were genetically
distinct the cow’s immune system reacts to them in
much the same way. This information should aid the
development of vaccines against bovine TB.
Professor Dirk Werling and his team at the Royal
Veterinary College have been working to understand
the risk factors that lead to a farm developing PMWS.
They found that the farms with the lowest incidence
of PMWS had clean, enriched environments with the
maximum amount of space for pigs as possible.
Professor Werling has been working with the
British Pig Executive to advice farmers on how to
minimise the impact of the disease.
Contact:
Prof Dirk Werling, RVC
[email protected]
Lameness
Lameness is very painful for afflicted animals and is
a heavy burden on UK farming. Two CEDFAS projects
looked into ways of reducing the impact of lameness.
Footrot causes lameness in around 9 million ewes
and lambs each year in the UK. It is extremely
painful for infected sheep, highly contagious and
costly to the farming industry.
Prior to this project, little was known about the
bacteria, Dichelobacter nodosus, which causes.
Footrot. Professor Laura Green of Warwick
University has been leading a team which has
established that footrot and interdigital dermatitis
are caused by the same bacterium. In light of their
work the Sheep Veterinary Society is drafting new
recommendations of controlling footrot. Professor
Green’s team have established that with the proper
Contact:
Prof Liz Glass, the Roslin Institute
[email protected]
Prof Stephen Gordon, University College Dublin
[email protected]
Post-weaning Multi-systemic Wasting
Syndrome (PMWS)
Post Weaning Multi-systemic Wasting Syndrome
(PMWS), is estimated to cost the UK pig industry
£61M each year. It is relatively new to the UK
having first been seen here in 1999, but has since
become widespread. The disease strikes young pigs
from about six weeks after they are removed from
their mothers; they then lose weight, have difficulty
breathing and can suffer from fever and diarrhoea
as they slowly become emaciated. Up to 30% of
infected pigs die of the disease.
Fluorescent image of a section through a sheep foot showing the
bacteria in red. Credit Luci Witcomb, University of Warwick
control mechanisms the prevalence of footrot can be
reduced from 10% to below 2%.
Another group of researchers, led by Professor
Stuart Carter at the University of Liverpool has
been investigating how bacteria called treponemes
invade cows feet to cause lameness. Trepenomes are
considered important in
transmitting and spreading the disease between
individual cattle and dairy farms.
Amongst other findings Professor Carter’s team
identified three distict strains of the bacteria, one of
which they proposed as a completely new species.
They also revealed that treponemes were abundant
in hair follicles suggesting that this might be the way
that the bacteria get into or out of the cows feet.
Contact:
Prof Stuart Carter, University of Liverpool
[email protected]
Prof Laura Green, University of Warwick
[email protected]
Infectious bronchitis
Infectious bronchitis is a respiratory disease of
chickens caused by a coronavirus called IBV. It is the
single most economically costly viral disease to the
UK poultry Industry. Researchers led by Professor
Paul Britton at the Institute for Animal Health (IAH)
and Professor Tom Wileman at the University of
East Anglia have been working to understand how
the virus affects a chicken cell’s immune defences in
the hope of developing better vaccines.
Their work has focused on a newly discovered cellular
defence mechanism called autophagy that can
break down viruses and trigger immune responses.
They have identified a protein in IBV that activates
autophagy and may trigger a cell to remove the
virus. Their study has also shown that equivalent
proteins on coronaviruses and arteriviruses that
affect mammals cause similar responses. This means
that their results are relevant to other farm animal
pathogens such as PRRSV and equine arterivirus and
human pathogens such as SARS Co-V, and have the
potential to influence the design of live attenuated
vaccines for these viral diseases.
Contact:
Prof Paul Britton, Institute for Animal Health
[email protected]
Bovine mastitis
Bovine mastitis is a painful condition that
dramatically reduces milk yield from cows. It is
estimated to cost UK farmers alone nearly £200M
per year and requires the large scale use of
antibiotics.
Bovine mastitis is caused by the bacterium
Streptococcus uberis, but not all strains are equally
able to cause infection. Professor James Leigh from
the University of Nottingham and his team have
been working to understand the genetic differences
between strains in the hope of finding out which
genes are important in causing disease. They have
identified three genes encoding proteins that have
a crucial role in causing mastitis and which have
potential to be used in disease control.”
Contact:
Prof James Leigh, the University of Nottingham
[email protected]
Intracellular bacteria
Among important animal pathogens are some
small bacteria that depend entirely on their animal
host’s cells for survival. Dr David Longbottom of
the Moredun Research Institute has been working
to increase our understanding of two such bacteria:
Chlamydophila abortus and Lawsonia intracellularis
which are highly prevalent in sheep and pigs
respectively.
C. abortus is the single most common cause of
infectious abortion in sheep and costs the industry
around £30 million each year. L. intracellularis causes
a condition called Iletis which results in tumourlike lesions and diarrhoea and weight loss in pigs.
Infection is very common, affecing around 90% of
pig herds.
Dr Longbottom’s team are sequencing the genomes
of multiple strains of these bacteria and have
identified a family of components that are present in
both species and are likely to be involved in causing
disease. By investigating which of these components
are most important in causing disease, and the
variation amongst different strains, the team hope
to improve the detection and treatment of both
diseases.
Contact:
Dr David Longbottom, the Moredun Research
Institute. [email protected]
Parasitic Nematodes
Parasitic nematode worms are a major cause of
livestock disease in the UK, estimated to cost the UK
sheep farming industry more than £80 million a year.
Nematode worms are normally controlled using
antihelmintics drugs, but resistance to all classes
of these is being increasingly reported. Professor
Andy Tait at the University of Glasgow and his
team have been working to understand how this
resistance has developed and spread through the
worm population. Their research has revealed that
one type of drug resistance has spread through the
worm population rather than having arisen multiple
times independently. This suggests that drug
resistance can be combated by early detection and
containment of resistant worms.
The T. circumcincta parasite in the abomasal glands of a sheep.
Credit Moredun Research Institute
Another project, led by Professor David Knox of the
Moredun Research Institute, studied a nematode
worm called Teladorsagia circumcincta which is
the main cause of parasitic gastroenteristis in UK
sheep. Exposing sheep to low levels of the parasite
for a prolonged period of time triggers their immune
response meaning that it might be possible to
develop a vaccine against the worm. The researchers
on this project have identified a number of proteins
on the parasite’s surface which stimulate a sheep’s
immune response. They are now working to test
whether any of these might be a candidate for
producing a vaccine.
About BBSRC
BBSRC invests in world-class bioscience research and
training on behalf of the UK public. Our aim is to
further scientific knowledge, to promote economic
growth, wealth and job creation and to improve
quality of life in the UK and beyond.
Funded by Government, and with an annual budget
of around £445M, we support research and training
in universities and strategically funded institutes.
BBSRC research and the people we fund are
helping society to meet major challenges, including
food security, green energy and healthier, longer
lives. Our investments underpin important UK
economic sectors, such as farming, food, industrial
biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.
For more information about BBSRC, our science and
our impact see: http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk
For more information about BBSRC strategically
funded institutes see: http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/
institutes
Contact:
Professor Andy Tait, University of Glasgow
[email protected]
Prof David Knox, the Moredun Research Institute.
[email protected]
Contact
Science enquiries
Name:
Dr Sobia Aslam
Email:
[email protected]
Media Enquries
Mike Davies
[email protected]. Tel. 07785 710 536