Originally from: Farmtalking
                        
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Date: Sun 23 Sep 2006
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Originally from: Mary Marshall <...> Source: Farmersguardian.com, 22 Sep 2006 [edited] <http://www.farmersguardian.com/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=4600>
U-turn on rapid FMD test – on-the-spot one hour result

A rapid test for foot-and-mouth disease [FMD] rejected by MAFF at the height of the 2001 outbreak could be used for future outbreaks in the UK, Government scientists indicated this week.

The Institute for Animal Health (IAH) is trialing a diagnostic test that will deliver an on-the-spot result in under an hour, without having to wait for results from a laboratory.

Efforts to stop the spread of infection in the 2001 outbreak led to many animals being slaughtered before the test results were known.

Scientists now say more than 1/3rd of sheep farms and 23 percent of all livestock premises were wrongly diagnosed as having foot-and-mouth disease.

A similar rapid penside test, already developed in the USA, was offered to the UK during the 2001 outbreak but was rejected by the Government because it had not been validated in the UK.

John Dobson, from the FMD forum, said: "The lack of penside tests in 2001 meant that many animals went untested, other animals became infected while waiting for the results from test to be returned, and many animals were slaughtered unnecessarily because of tests returning false positives."

However, NFU president at the time, Sir Ben Gill, said the test had been proved to be rubbish, and they could not afford to test it at the time of an outbreak.

The test still needs to be assessed by veterinary surgeons working with cattle herds, including further laboratory assessment leading up to validation.

Even then, there is still no certainty the test will be used in the UK, as the IAH admitted it may have difficulty persuading companies to turn it into a commercially viable product.

An IAH spokesman admitted there was probably not much money in it.

But former National Sheep Association chief executive John Thorley said the test, which has been designed to be suitable for sheep, cattle and pigs was massively important’ and would speed up the effects of any control measures that were put in place during a foot-and-mouth outbreak.

"It would help to act as a counter to the commercial reality of the way people and stock move around the country nowadays," he said.

Mr Thorley said the test would be particularly useful for the sheep sector, where diagnosis was difficult because animals often showed few clinical signs of the disease.

[Byline: Tom Levitt]