From the desk of Mark Schipp - The Animal Health Committee

The national committee for key animal health decisions

Maintaining and improving Australia’s animal health system is essential for the health and welfare of our animals, to effectively manage animal biosecurity risks, and to facilitate safe trade. Part of my role is to sit on the Animal Health Committee (AHC), to develop science-based and nationally consistent policies and provide leadership in implementing veterinary policy on animal health issues.

I wanted to share an insight into AHC, as the policies it develops help facilitate consistent approaches to current or emerging animal health and welfare concerns. This is particularly important to guide the veterinary and agriculture sectors to tackle emerging animal health issues, like the Ehrlichia canis (E. canis) outbreak in 2020 and the Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) outbreak in 2022. AHC also plans and develops preparedness policies for animal disease threats such as avian influenza, lumpy skin disease and foot-and-mouth disease.

AHC consists of the chief veterinary officers of Australia and of the states and territories, along with representatives from the CSIRO Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. The AHC is currently chaired by Dr Michelle Rodan, the CVO of Western Australia, and I will be the 2024 chair. Observers also participate at committee meetings in an advisory capacity, and they include Animal Health Australia, Wildlife Health Australia, and the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries. _{Figure 1: Organisational chart of AHC members and observers}

The AHC convenes face-to-face meetings biannually, held in a different state or territory in Australia each time, and the most recent meeting was in April this year in Launceston.

Recognising our One Health approach, there is also the opportunity for representatives from Health and Environment portfolios to join the meeting if there are relevant agenda items.

AHC members also meet separately with representatives from national livestock industry bodies and veterinary services to discuss priority animal health issues or topics of mutual interest. An example is AHC's recent collaboration with the Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) to review the engagement of private veterinarians during an emergency animal disease (EAD) response. The review standardises the processes on pay, contracts, recruitment, and employment conditions, and they will soon look to develop a nationally coordinated framework for private veterinary engagement and training in an EAD response.

The AHC provides advice on animal health related matters, and is a sub-committee of the National Biosecurity Committee (NBC), sitting alongside similar plant, marine pest, and environmental and invasive species committees. Each report to the overarching NBC which is responsible for managing national approaches to biosecurity threats, and the potential impacts these could have on agricultural production, the environment, and community well-being.

The Consultative Committee on Emergency Animal Disease (CCEAD)

The CCEAD is convened during an EAD outbreak and acts as the national coordinating body between industry, the Australian government, and state and territory governments. CCEAD shares the same membership with AHC, with the additional involvement of relevant industry bodies.

Upon confirmation or high suspicion of an EAD outbreak, for example the outbreak of JEV in 2022, the CVO of the state or territory experiencing the disease incident must notify the chair of the CCEAD within 24 hours. This allows decisions to be made on the national responses to any emergency animal disease incidents, including those that impact animal health, public health – in which case human health colleagues would participate in the meeting, or incidents impacting Australia’s trade. The CCEAD will continue to act on the emergency event until it no longer requires a national response, and at that stage the responsibility may be handed over to other bodies such as the state jurisdictions.

AHC at work: Canine Ehrlichiosis

Canine ehrlichiosis is a potentially fatal disease of dogs caused by Ehrlichia canis (E. canis). This tick-borne bacteria is carried by the brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus, which is present across central and northern Australia. Ehrlichiosis was first detected in Australia in May 2020 in northern Western Australia, and has since been confirmed in the Northern Territory, northern South Australia, and north-west Queensland. 

_{Figure 2: Distribution of the brown dog tick, vector for E. canis. Credit – DAFF}

The AHC formed a working group to develop guidelines about canine ehrlichiosis for veterinarians and dog owners, and there was input from external industry bodies such as the AVA. These guidelines included recommendations such as a nationally coordinated public campaign promoting awareness and management of the vector, and guidelines for dog owners and breeders travelling through or from areas where E. Canis is known to be present.

They also provided guidelines for veterinarians and dog owners managing cases of ehrlichiosis, and surveillance recommendations. The contributions from the members that form the AHC and those on the working group, who represent the animal health needs across Australia, enabled this policy on a national approach to be developed. This is an example of how the AHC facilitates consistent approaches to animal health issues that arise, by helping the dog owners and veterinarians prevent and manage cases of ehrlichiosis.

Priorities going forward

The work of the AHC is ongoing and evolves with the animal health concerns of the day. The priorities for this year include supporting EAD preparedness such as the lumpy skin disease action plan and joint interagency EAD taskforce actions. They will also participate in the emergency animal disease response agreement (EADRA) 5-year review, and progress a national policy for official testing of notifiable diseases and point-of-care testing. The AHC will continue to contribute to the management of EADs in Australia, by managing animal biosecurity risks and providing national leadership.

For the latest updates on the work of the Office of the Chief Veterinary Officer, please follow our Twitter channel, and you can also follow me on LinkedIn and the Australian Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer Dr Beth Cookson on LinkedIn.