A nationwide sheep scab eradication programme is needed to rid Scottish sheep of the disease once and for all, claims a Scots researcher.
According to Dr Alasdair Nisbet from the Moredun Research Institute in Penicuick the disease, which affects around 15% of all sheep farms, could be eradicated if there was the political will and funding available to do it.
Scotland was once free of the disease, estimated to cost the UK sheep sector more than £14 million a year, but its re-emergence has resulted in it becoming a notifiable disease once more.
Dr Nisbet said the disease was more prevalent in some areas of Scotland, including Aberdeenshire, but seemed to be absent from other areas including Mull and Iona.
To assess whether an area was free of the disease as a result of no notifications of its presence to the Government, researchers carried out testing on Mull and Iona to determine whether or not flocks had the condition.
Using a diagnostic blood test developed by Moredun Scientists, they tested 715 sheep over 73 holdings in summer last year. None of the sheep had scab mites or lesions present, suggesting the islands were free of the disease.
A second phase of the research is now under way, with nearly 100 tups tested before they were sent to the island for tupping.
Dr Nisbet said the tups will be tested when they return to see if they contract scab on the islands, thus confirming that the disease isn’t present in Mull and Iona sheep.
“To date the study has demonstrated the use of the sheep scab diagnostic test as a means of assessing disease status as part of a local eradication campaign, and we are now assessing its use as an effective screening tool to prevent the reintroduction of sheep scab,” he added.
“We will test animals returning from shows as well to see whether quarantine and biosecurity are actually working,” he added.