PRESS RELEASE

2002/01

 

11 January 2002

 

WELCOME FOR TROPICAL DISEASES AGENCY

 

The creation of a National Infection Control and Health Protection Agency, announced by Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, Chief Medical Officer for England, is welcome but does not go far enough says the Wildlife Information Network.

 

WIN, the British-based international veterinary charity, has been working with the US government agency CINDI – the Centre for the Integration of National Disaster Information – to support US federal and state responses through the production of information modules on West Nile Virus. The modules educate and inform both veterinary surgeons and medical doctors about how to identify and diagnose the disease in animals and humans and give extensive background information about the virus and its vectors.

 

WIN would like to see this synergy between human and animal illnesses replicated in the new UK Agency.

 

“West Nile Virus, which is now endemic in temperate regions of Europe, North America and Africa, presents a threat to public, avian and animal health, but is primarily a threat to birds in which it can cause severe illness and death. It is transmitted by mosquitoes and can also infect humans and equines,” says WIN chief executive Suzanne Boardman.

 

“Mosquitoes, ticks and other invertebrates normally encountered overseas carry a variety of viruses which transcend animal and human boundaries,” she added. “This new organisation must integrate the veterinary profession from the start, to enable doctors and vets to share information, work together to identify new or previously unknown infectious diseases and combine expertise to develop effective treatments.”

 

ends

 

For further information, please contact Lindy Margach of Woodcote Communications, telephone 020 8660 4168 or Suzanne Boardman of WIN, telephone 020 7388 7003.

 

NOTES FOR EDITORS

 

1.       The Wildlife Information Network was set up 10 years ago by Yorkshire-born Suzanne Boardman, then a veterinarian at London Zoo who was receiving requests for information and technical support from all corners of the globe. The information existed, but was fragmented and, in emerging countries, very difficult to obtain. WIN was inaugurated as a paper network of newsletters and collated information. It became a registered charity (No. 1048059) in 1995.