Spatial and temporal analysis of sheep scab notifications in Scotland, 2014–2019

Abstract

Background Sheep scab is considered an endemic disease of great welfare and economic significance in the UK. Method This paper provides an up‐to‐date assessment of the impact of Sheep Scab (Scotland) Order 2010 on sheep scab notifications in Scotland between 1 January 2014 and 31 December 2019, using data collected by the APHA. Results In total, 564 sheep scab notifications were reported from 503 unique holdings, of which 44 holdings (8.7%) reported more than one incident. The number of notifications did not differ between years, with 81, 84, 93, 101, 109 and 97 notifications recorded in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively: representing an average annual notification prevalence of 0.63% (1/159 flocks/year). A total of 413/564 records documented how notifications were resolved, with macrocyclic lactone and organophosphate treatments accounting for 79.6% and 20.4% of resolutions, respectively. Conclusion Our results suggest that the Order has facilitated the notification of sheep scab in Scotland (including trends and preferred methods of resolution), allowed industry and government to identify previously unidentified potentially free areas as well as recurrent incidents on sheep farms, and start to understand better the geographical and temporal nature of scab outbreaks. However, concerns remain about a potential lack of engagement, evidenced by the low notification prevalence and stagnant annual notification rates.

Sheep Scab in Northern Ireland: Its Distribution, Costs and Farmer Knowledge About Prevention and Control

“…In this study levels of farmer communication about a disease outbreak to state officials or neighbours was low (Table 9 and 16). This is similar to the findings of O'Brien (1999), who found levels of reporting of sheep scab outbreaks in Ireland to be under 50%, despite it being a legal requirement, alongside suspicions raised by Paton et al (2022) and Jones et al (2022) concerning under-reporting of sheep scab outbreaks. This reluctance may be driven, in part, by shame and the economic consequences of other farmers knowing that a farm has sheep scab, as well as concern over what restrictive actions may result from state involvement.…”

“…The limited information that is available for the other countries of the British Isles suggests that the disease is currently widespread, but with particular geographic foci (O'Brien, 1992;Bisdorff et al, 2006;Rose et al, 2009;Chivers et al, 2018). The difficulty in obtaining accurate prevalence figures has been recognised (Jones et al, 2022;Paton et al, 2022). Jones et al (2022) demonstrated from state figures for Scotland a prevalence of 0.63% for the period 2014-19.…”

“…The difficulty in obtaining accurate prevalence figures has been recognised (Jones et al, 2022;Paton et al, 2022). Jones et al (2022) demonstrated from state figures for Scotland a prevalence of 0.63% for the period 2014-19. This contrasts markedly with estimates of the annual flock level prevalence of sheep scab, reported by Rose (2011), as being 7.1% in the Scottish flock, 20.5% in the Welsh flock and 14% in the Northern English flock.…”