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As the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill makes its way through the House of Lords, Lord Trees' intern Harriet Davenport discusses what it could mean for animals in the UK.

The article focuses on the Considerations related to the use of molecular diagnostic tests in veterinary clinical and regulatory practice . Topics discussed include technological advances are creating an ever widening array of options for detecting pathogens and diagnosing diseases of concern in clinical and regulatory veterinary medicine;and new technology can facilitate timelier responses and, in some instances, move assays from laboratory-based to patient-side.

Objectives In 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO) released its global action plan (GAP) on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as a blueprint for the design of national action plans for AMR containment. Bangladesh, with 80% rural household ownership of at least one livestock, introduced its national action plan in May 2017. The objective of this study was two-fold: (i) to perform a policy content evaluation of the Bangladesh National Action Plan (BNAP) against the GAP with a focus on veterinary AMR containment strategies; and (ii) to assess the evidence on the implementation of veterinary AMR containment strategies of the BNAP. Methods The BNAP was evaluated against the GAP to identify commonalities and policy gaps. A scoping review of peer-reviewed and grey literature was performed to identity evidence of policy implementation and practice gaps. Results The BNAP is strongly aligned with the GAP. However, the study identified policy gaps, including an explicit financing modality, specifications for antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) in the veterinary sector, and rigorous operational and monitoring & evaluation frameworks. More evidence on implementation is needed in terms of incorporation of AMR in the curriculum of veterinarians, AMS plans throughout the veterinary sector, and infection prevention and control protocols and implementation. Conclusion Closing the identified gaps is essential for successful veterinary AMR containment in Bangladesh but will require sustained and significant investment in institutional and human resource development in the coming years.

Stem cell-based products (SCPs) are an emerging field of veterinary medicine that focuses on the regeneration, repair, or replacement of damaged tissues or organs. However, there are some issues in applying the traditional regulatory guideline for the approval of SCPs as veterinary medicinal products. This article describes the positions of Korea, US, and EU regarding SCPs, and compares the regulatory guidelines of each country for their safety evaluation. Although there are some differences in the regulatory guidelines, similar considerations in identifying the quality of SCPs and their safety has adopted. Overall, these guidelines need to be harmonized among countries.

Before a veterinary medicinal product (VMP) (including a vaccine) can be placed on the UK market, a large package of quality, safety and efficacy data undergoes a rigorous independent scientific assessment. Vaccines must be shown to be safe to use. Where necessary, specific warnings are added to the product literature which, when followed, will minimise the risk of any known potential adverse reactions. A rigorous assessment of user safety is conducted for each product. In the case of live zoonotic bacterial vaccines, the human pathogenicity of the vaccine strain in the …

Gillian Nevin argues that vets would be unfairly disadvantaged if the RCVS changes to a civil standard of proof in disciplinary cases.

Many years ago I was a member of BVA council representing a species division. Throughout this time I was uncomfortably aware that the name of the division I represented – …

At last week’s RCVS council meeting, council members considered a document with the unassuming title ‘Report of the RCVS Legislation Working Party (LWP)’. Despite its title, the document was no plan for piecemeal change but a radical blueprint for wholesale restructuring of veterinary legislation. It contained a masterplan for an interrelated raft of measures which, if enacted, would dramatically modernise the regulatory regime within which vets operate (see pp 580-581). A new Act of Parliament would replace the existing Veterinary Surgeons Act. In one of the plan’s most striking features, it is envisaged that new powers would be handed to the RCVS, including ‘powers of entry’, meaning the right to enter vet practices without consent. That move is being driven by a desire to increase the accountability of non-vets who own practices. The RCVS would, under the LWP’s vision, acquire a new role akin …

The economic costs of contagious agalactia (CA) to the small ruminant dairy industry are not well known but include losses due to mortality, lowered milk production, spoiled products, abortions and animal welfare problems, as well as diagnosis and treatment. This paper reports financial estimates made in southern Europe, including a study on small- and large-scale farming systems in Italy, indicating that the financial losses are high and underestimated. Furthermore, the current control strategies, including chemotherapy and vaccination, in selected countries in Europe are described. In some countries, disease control is hampered by excessively strict veterinary legislation which discourages farmers and private veterinarians from notifying outbreaks because it leads to the prohibition of milk sales and can result in delays in lifting restrictions. In addition, new European Union legislation may downgrade the importance of CA, which will have implications for international research efforts. Finally, a series of recommendations are provided that cover the proper notification and handling of CA outbreaks, including movement control, current diagnostics, treatment, vaccination and disinfection.Si le coût économique exact de l’agalaxie contagieuse pour le secteur ovin et caprin de production laitière n’est pas connu, on sait néanmoins qu’il recouvre les pertes dues à la mortalité dans les cheptels, à une chute de la production de lait, aux produits altérés, aux avortements et aux problèmes de bien-être animal, en plus des coûts du diagnostic et des traitements. Les auteurs font état d’estimations financières réalisées en Europe méridionale, dont une étude sur les exploitations familiales et les élevages de grande taille en Italie, qui coïncident dans le constat de pertes financières à la fois importantes et sous-estimées. Les auteurs décrivent également les stratégies de lutte mises en place actuellement par plusieurs pays d’Europe, en particulier l’antibiothérapie et la vaccination. Dans certains pays, les efforts de lutte sont entravés par une législation vétérinaire excessivement rigoureuse qui dissuade les éleveurs et les vétérinaires privés de notifier les foyers car cela entraîne l’interdiction de vendre le lait issu des troupeaux infectés et retarde la levée des mesures de restriction. En outre, la nouvelle réglementation de l’Union européenne risque d’abaisser l’importance de l’agalaxie contagieuse, ce qui aura des conséquences sur les efforts mobilisés par la recherche au niveau international. Pour conclure, les auteurs formulent plusieurs recommandations en vue d’une notification et gestion appropriées des foyers d’agalaxie contagieuse, notamment pour ce qui concerne le contrôle des mouvements d’animaux, les méthodes actuelles de diagnostic, le traitement, la vaccination et la désinfection.Aunque no se conocen bien los costos económicos que la agalaxia contagiosa inflige a la industria lechera de pequeños rumiantes, se sabe que las pérdidas por mortalidad, mengua de la producción lechera, productos echados a perder, abortos y problemas de bienestar animal son un factor importante, sin olvidar los gastos de diagnóstico y tratamiento. Los autores dan cuenta de cálculos económicos realizados en Europa meridional, en particular a raíz de un estudio de pequeñas y grandes explotaciones ganaderas de Italia, que llevaron a la conclusión de que las pérdidas económicas son cuantiosas y están subestimadas. Además, los autores describen los métodos de lucha aplicados actualmente en determinados países de Europa, que incluyen tratamiento medicamentoso y vacunaciones. En algunos países la lucha contra la enfermedad se ve lastrada por una legislación veterinaria demasiado estricta, que no alienta a productores y veterinarios privados a notificar brotes porque ello conduce a la prohibición de las ventas de leche y puede demorar el levantamiento de las restricciones. Por otra parte, hay nuevos textos legislativos de la Unión Europea que quizá vengan a restar importancia a la agalaxia contagiosa, lo que repercutiría en las actividades internacionales de investigación. Por último, los autores formulan una serie de recomendaciones referidas a cuestiones que van desde la correcta notificación y gestión de los brotes de agalaxia contagiosa hasta el control de los desplazamientos, pasando por los procedimientos vigentes de diagnóstico o los métodos de tratamiento, vacunación y desinfección.

Regulatory guidelines are in place across the world to ensure that approval of antibiotics is consistent with current scientific understanding of quality, efficacy and safety including minimizing the risk of the development of antibiotic resistance. We suggest the regulatory process is fit for purpose and does indeed approve products that are safe for use with regard to development of antibiotic resistance. However, we maintain that in order to preserve the longevity of antibiotics, treatment should be based on an established diagnosis and normally only antibiotics authorized for the diagnosed indication and indicated bacteria are used. Furthermore, susceptibility testing should be carried out whenever possible. Despite a general acceptance that antibiotic resistance is a significant issue, antibiotics can still receive a marketing authorization without a sponsor having to generate a clinical breakpoint. The consequence of this is that for many antibiotics we have no measure of what is resistant and what is susceptible at the approved dose. We argue that the time is right for all approvals of new or existing antibiotics to have independently agreed clinical breakpoints, as part of the regulatory process, without which talk of resistance is somewhat meaningless. This is relevant not only for novel antibiotics but also for generic compounds.

The application of epidemiology in national veterinary services must take place at the interface between science and politics. Animal health policy development and implementation require attention to macro-epidemiology, the study of economic, social and policy inputs that affect the distribution and impact of animal or human disease at the national level. The world has changed fast over the last three decades including the delivery of veterinary services, their remit and the challenges addressed by public and animal health policies. Rethinking the role of public services and how to make public programs more efficient has been at the heart of the political discussion. The WTO through its SPS Agreement has changed the way in which national veterinary services operate and how trade decisions are made. Most low and middle income countries are still struggling to keep up with the new international scene. Some of these countries, such as Brazil, have very important livestock industries and are key to the global food systems. Over the last two decades, Brazil became a leading player in exports of livestock products, including poultry, and this created a strong pressure on the national veterinary services to respond to trade demands, leading to focus animal health policies on the export-driven sector. During the same period, Brazil has gone a long way in the direction of integrating epidemiology with veterinary services. Epidemiology groups grew at main universities and have been working with government to provide support to animal health policy. The scope and quality of the applied epidemiological work improved and focused on complex data analysis and development of technologies and tools to solve specific disease problems. Many public veterinary officers were trained in modern epidemiological methods. However, there are important institutional bottlenecks that limit the impact of epidemiology in evidence-based decision making. More complex challenges require high levels of expertise in veterinary epidemiology, as well as institutional models that provide an appropriate environment for building and sustaining capacity in national veterinary services. Integrating epidemiology with animal health policy is a great opportunity if epidemiologists can understand the real issues, including the socio-economic dimensions of disease management, and focus on innovation and production of knowledge. It may be a trap if epidemiologists are restricted to answering specific decision-making questions and policy makers perceive their role exclusively as data analysts or providers of technological solutions. Fostering solutions for complex issues is key to successful integration with policy making.

The ultimate goal of any disaster response, or a natural or a man‑made event, is to get the best outcome for the highest number of people. From a veterinary point of view, the best outcome includes either the protection of animals (conventional and unconventional pets) or the safeguarding the wholesomeness of food supplies in the "One Health" perspective. The evolution of the Italian veterinary role in disaster management has changed across the last 35 years and has grown with the awareness that animals and human beings share the same vulnerability to disasters. The University of Teramo, following its experiences in different disaster scenarios, proposes a veterinary presidium to support Public Authority in responding to catastrophic events in the Italian context, in order to rescue small, large and unconventional animals. The proposed veterinary presidium is made up of 3 skilled people certified to react to different population needs. Indeed we propose different teams to rescue small, large or non‑conventional animal, trained to work together in a stress situation and under coordination of the Civil Protection Function 2. This presidium with its 3 different skilled teams under the supervision of the advanced veterinary medical center (AVMC) and by reporting to it will provide the best competences based on the needs of the population and the authorities, in view of the "One Health" perspective.

This is the central question that a new task force made up of members of the BVA and the British Veterinary Nursing Association (BVNA) is seeking to answer. Their aim is to tear up existing expectations and come up with a best-case scenario – if there was no legislative bar what could a vet nurse role look like and deliver? One of the key aims of the task force is to come up with a definition of veterinary nursing. Bizarrely, perhaps, no such definition exists and vet nurses have come to rely on the human field for a statement about their identity. Both the BVA and the BVNA believe the vet nursing profession deserves its own. Beyond a definition, the task force will also consider how the profession can move beyond the …

This month, Jodie Ferrier describes the six-year hunt for her lost dog, Fern.

Age determination of puppies represents a significant issue of animal welfare and forensic medicine, particularly for what concerns trade and imports of dogs. Despite the movement of puppy dogs before the age of 15 weeks is forbidden by Regulation (EU) No 576/2013, the occurrence of illegal transport of younger puppies is not uncommon. The illegal trade of puppies increases instances of falsified documentation, the counterfeit of vaccine certificates and discrepancies between the declared age and the real age of the puppies. Consequently, determining the exact age of animals and evaluating their welfare become legally crucial. Dental examination currently represents the most common approach to estimate the age of a puppy in clinical practice and in forensic investigations. In this work we addressed the legal, health and welfare issues associated with dogs’ trade and import and we reviewed the existing literature referring to the assessment of age in dogs by dental examination. The imprecision and inaccuracy of this method make it poorly convincing in legal proceedings. The reasons for such vagueness are to be ascribed both to the lack of standardization and to many variability factors (size, breed, sex, diet, etc.) which influence dental eruption and development.

Metronidazole is an antibiotic widely used in different medical conditions such as trichomoniasis, amoebiasis, and giardiasis among others. Its use has been associated with toxicity; however, it is not well characterized. In this review, we discuss the different therapeutic uses of metronidazole and its side effects in order to aid future investigation in this field.Relevant information, original research articles, clinical trials, and reviews were collected from PubMed to know the state of the art of the different therapeutic uses of metronidazole and the reported side effects.Metronidazole was used by the first time in 1959, to treat an infection caused by Trichomonas vaginalis; subsequently, new therapeutic properties were discovered. Nowadays, Metronidazole is used to treat infections caused by Bacteroides, Fusobacteria and Clostridia, rosacea, oral and dental infections, bone and joint infections, gynecologic infections, endocarditis, septicemia, and respiratory tract infections. It also can be used to treat Crohn´s disease or even like prophylaxis, before surgical procedures. Metronidazole is well tolerated with mild to moderate side effects such as nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Nevertheless, serious neurotoxicity, optic neuropathy, peripheral neuropathy, and encephalopathy have been reported in rare cases. Their genotoxic effects observed in animal models are controversial in humans.The therapeutic use of metronidazole had increased worldwide. Even though it is widely used, metronidazole has been associated with neurotoxicity and genotoxicity; however, its side effects are not well established. Conversely, its veterinary use is restricted in some countries because of its tumor association. Subsequently, further studies are needed to discover the secure use of metronidazole and describe new usages for this drug.