Vets and scientists to discuss animal disease at Edinburgh conference

The conference, hosted by the University of Edinburgh, will see researchers discuss new strategies to monitor and manage disease outbreaks in wildlife in order to safeguard the health of humans and farm animals.

In order to do this effectively, they are calling for better surveillance of wild species in order to help stop the spread of disease – and issue is all the more prominent given the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which is believed to have strong links to the consumption of bushmeat, such as wild fruit bats, which carry the disease.

Attendees will also review new diseases that are emerging in the wild.

Professor Anna Meredith, of the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, said: "Most infectious diseases that affect people originate in animals, both wild and farmed. Understanding how these diseases spread in wild animals is vital."​

The conference has been organised by experts at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies and Scotland’s Rural College.