Disease control has been an endeavour of humanity down through the ages and since Louis Pasteur made the connection between specific microbial agents and disease, more targeted control programmes have evolved. Pasteurisation was an early example. As ever more diseases evolve, it’s salutary that very few have ever been successfully eradicated.

There are three essential elements to any disease control programme: identifying the sources of the infectious agent, elimination of the infectious agent and post-eradication monitoring. While this process is well understood and appreciated, implementation can vary from country to country, based on local factors such as farm structure and management practices. Also, countries that need to export their produce oftentimes have to attain higher standards.

The success of the brucellosis scheme in Ireland is an example of adherence to the principles outlined. Not all diseases can be controlled likewise due to the differences in testing accuracy and the nature of some diseases like Johne’s, where identification of carrier animals in low prevalence situations is challenging. This makes management interventions such as risk assessments (VRAMP) essential to disease control.

At the recent World Buiatrics (Cattle) Congress held in Dublin this July, international experts from 78 countries converged. One of the most interesting presentations was given by an Iraqi veterinary surgeon. Despite all that is going on in that country, she is running a programme to investigate control of TB. She outlined how camels, the work horses of the local populace, are tested for TB. The soft flap of skin in the arm pit of the forelimb is clipped in two sites and injected with tuberculin, as we do for cattle. Seventy-two hours later, the test is read and animals are deemed reactors or not.

Recent studies there show that the TB prevalence in camels is much higher than previously thought and it has been suggested that some of the nomadic herdsmen who work with the camels may well be the source of TB. Whether the camels spread TB to the cattle there is another matter.

Even in war-torn Iraq, disease surveillance is a necessity and for many diseases, TB being one of the most obvious ones, monitoring of other species is necessary to control cattle diseases. A common theme from the congress was that no one country has a monopoly in disease control and the challenges are common to most countries. No doubt, Ireland’s international reputation and high standards in disease control were some of the reason’s this prestigious congress was held here.