Johne’s Disease Working Group: terms of reference

The Johne’s Disease Working Group is formed of farmers, vets, industry and policy representatives who are working together to improve awareness of Johne’s Disease and to increase action to tackle the disease in Scotland. 

Terms of reference 

The working group will promote wider farmer and industry awareness of Johne’s Disease and increase understanding of what can be done to improve disease control. This will help to increase knowledge within the farming industry and build better engagement with farmers.  

By considering new ways to address the challenges of Johne’s Disease within Scotland’s national herds, and flocks, and other susceptible species where appropriate, the working group will take account of wider industry views on what is required, practical and achievable. 

The working group will work with and support other organisations that are working to tackle Johne’s Disease to make recommendations for effective programmes or monitoring schemes that aid in the detection and control of Johne’s Disease. 

The working group will support research into Johne’s Disease generally, including environmental and wildlife transmission, biosecurity, prevalence/surveillance, and human behaviour that can be implemented in providing practical support for managing Johne’s Disease in a farmer centric way.

The working group will find more effective ways of using pre-existing tests and vaccines for Johne’s control, and support specific research into new molecular technologies to develop vaccines and diagnostics. 

The working group will use research to fill knowledge gaps including:

• on the early stages of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) infection
• the part played by the humoral response  
• the pathways of infection that result in an animal developing or not developing clinical disease  
• how latency of MAP is triggered and the factors necessary for its re-activation

The working group will promote consistent messaging on Johne’s Disease with industry, vets and farmers to improve knowledge and awareness of the disease and how to tackle it. They will initiate tasks and finish projects with the aim of tackling Johne’s Disease.

Membership 

Membership of the working group is detailed on the group page.