A major national exercise, set to go ahead next summer, will simulate an outbreak of a devastating livestock disease in the UK in order to test the country’s response to such a scenario.  

AHVLA, working alongside Defra, the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) and a number of other partners, will test the government’s ability to deal with a significant outbreak of Classical Swine Fever (CSF) in June 2013.

Exercise ‘Walnut’, which is scheduled to take place on 12th-13th June 2013, will simulate a national outbreak of CSF to test existing plans and policies for the control and eradication of this significant, exotic notifiable disease. AHVLA announced the plans on Monday (19th November)

AHVLA, which is organising the simulation, said the exercise will establish Britain’s state of readiness, and help to identify how plans and procedures for managing disease can be improved. As part of the test a National Disease Control Centre (NDCC) will be established in London, and multiple Local Disease Control Centres (LDCCs) will be established elsewhere. In addition, a Disease Strategy Group (DSG) will be set up in Edinburgh, an Emergency Coordination Centre (Wales) (ECC(W)) in Cardiff and a Central Epizootic Disease Control Centre (CEDCC) in Belfast.

Gordon Hickman, Head of Contingency Planning and Regulatory Affairs for AHVLA, said exercise ‘Walnut’ would help to ensure that Government is prepared to respond to future disease outbreaks.

Speaking on Monday, Hickman said, “Exercises such as this allow us to identify better ways of working, and help ensure our approach to managing a significant disease outbreak is properly coordinated. We must continue to test and improve our disease control measures, and put ourselves in the best possible position to minimise the impact on farmers and their livestock should the worst occur.”

Following the simulation, an evaluation report for ‘Walnut’ will be published later in 2013, which will appraise the response. CSF, also known as hog cholera, is a widespread and extremely damaging disease. Although the UK is officially free of the disease, an outbreak in East Anglia in 2000 led to 75,000 pigs being slaughtered in an attempt to contain the disease.

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