Clinical | Veterinary Associations | Veterinary Events and Conferences

Government vets called to account

vetreportApril 14, 2014

At BSAVA Congress Government vets were admonished for failing to keep their colleagues in companion animal practice properly informed of the possibility of human infection after the emergence of bovine tuberculosis in cats.
Chief veterinary officers from each of the four UK administrations were invited to the first ever question and answer session with BSAVA delegates on the Friday of the Association’s annual meeting. They may have been expecting to discuss the issues that have dominated debates between government veterinary staff and their colleagues in private practice in recent months, such as antimicrobial resistance, compulsory microchip identification and illegally imported puppies. But the discussion was dominated by an issue that had flared up in the national press only a few days before.
Basingstoke practitioner Charlotte Clough complained that government colleagues had not alerted staff in local practices to a cluster of cases of Mycoplasma bovis infection in nine cats around the Newbury area, which had also resulted in two human cases. ”I understand that the last of the cases occurred in March 2013 but the first I knew was when I read about it last week in the Daily Mail,” she said.
Deputy chief veterinary officer for the UK Alick Simmons acknowledged that it was ‘unfortunate and regrettable’ if neighbouring practices had not been told about those cases until they were reported initially in the Veterinary Record with accompanying advice to colleagues from the CVO. However, he noted that there is an established route for the transmission of the pathogen to cats and then on to their owners. “For anyone to suggest that this was the first time that the profession was made aware of tuberculosis in cats in the UK would be misleading.”
Mrs Clough insisted that with rare conditions it was important to keep practitioners informed of developments to ensure that they are alert to the possibility of a potential animal and human health risk. She felt that an email message could have been sent to neighbouring practices long before the paper appeared in the scientific literature.
The State Service was also accused by another BSAVA member in the audience of showing a lack of interest in the possibility of feline tuberculosis when she approached the Veterinary Laboratories Agency for advice. Mr Simmons acknowledged that government laboratories are required to take samples from companion animals where there is reasonable suspicion of a notifiable disease infection and promised to ensure that government labs do provide appropriate advice to colleagues.
Scotland’s CVO Sheila Voas was the one head government veterinarian unable to attend the event due to problems with her travel arrangements. She was therefore unable to explain how the Scottish Parliament proposed to regulate the veterinary profession north of the border if there is a Yes vote in the independence referendum later this year.
In her absence, Alick Simmons declined to speculate on how the Scots government would approach the possibility of new legislation to regulate the profession in Scotland – or any of the multitude of issues that would influence the work of veterinarians on both sides of the border if the Union is dissolved. However, he did hope that the profession in all four nations would remain as a single entity whatever the referendum result.