You should seek the advice of your veterinarian if your pet is ill as only he or she can correctly advise on the diagnosis and recommend the treatment that is most appropriate for your pet.

With the relaxation of the quarantine restrictions in the uk, with increasing movement of people, animals and diseases around the world is it time for the establishment of a veterinary disease surveillance unit ? 

When the first cases of BSE in cattle emerged they were sporadic, isolated cases on individual farms. It was a considerable time before veterinarians realised that they were dealing with an outbreak of a new disease - an outbreak which developed into epidemic proportions, created a serious human health risk and became an economic disaster for British Agriculture.

In New York the emergence of West Nile virus initially in crows, then in captive birds and finally in people raised major questions about the need to set up more sophisticated surveillance systems to detect emerging diseases earlier. In this particular case the disease is transmitted by a mosquito bite and crows were being killed by the virus in June 1999, in July it had been transmitted to crows in Bronx zoo, and by September it was killing captive birds in Bronx zoo. In August 1999 the virus was affecting people. The virus has so far killed seven people.

Predictions about the potential for global movement of infections is not scare mongering...historically many diseases have changed their climatic distribution ...for example heartworm disease in dogs has spread north across the USA , through changes in peoples behaviour patterns. Despite evidence that biting flies exist in the UK which could  transmit such diseases should an animal be imported, organisations such as the BSAVA  refuse to accept that screening imported dogs is worthwhile to prevent the potential from becoming a reality.

After introduction of the Passport travel scheme for pets within Europe the first dog died from a tickborne disease called Babesiosis  3 weeks after it was started.

In September 2013 another serious tickborne disease (Ehrlichiosis) was reported in two dogs in the South-East of the UK. The dogs had never been abroad or , as far as is known, never been in contact with dogs that had travelled abroad. This raises the probability that ticks in the UK are now infected with Ehrlichia. In the future, with continuing movement of animals being allowed,  we can expect to see further "exotic" diseases in the UK including those that may be transmissible to people eg Heartworm disease - or even Rabies

Last updated : October 2013