Trend Trade shifts exposing the UK to new animal diseases

Summary

In its short-term outlook for animal disease, the report highlights changes in international trade. Shifting trade patterns could expose the UK to new diseases and antimicrobial-resistant organisms, raising the risk of outbreaks. The report explains that expanding global trade, together with more contact between livestock and wildlife and weak farm biosecurity, drives up disease risk. It also sees trade and agriculture as vulnerable to outbreaks that cause economic losses and food shortages, and observes that outbreaks can trigger import bans, like the ten-year EU ban on British beef after BSE. As a response, it points to the UK's Biological Security and Official Development Assistance strategies, which use a One Health approach and invest globally in veterinary infrastructure and disease surveillance.