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Poultry health course returns after five year break
The course will run from 24-28 June.
Avian influenza and Newcastle disease will be among the diseases covered.

The Pirbright Institute is relaunching its poultry health course after a five-year break.

Providing CPD training for veterinary surgeons, as well as technical staff and poultry managers, the week-long course will look at best practice in poultry health.

Experts from Pirbright, alongside guest lecturers from the poultry sector, will look at topics including enrichment, hatchery practice, and field investigations, as well as virological, bacteriological and parasitological poultry diseases.

Munir Iqbal, head of Pirbright’s Avian Influenza and Newcastle Disease group, will be providing insights into avian influenza and Ian Brown, who leads Pirbright’s Avian Virology Group, will be sharing his expertise on Newcastle disease.

The course will include demonstrations and lectures as well as practicals held at the University of Surrey.

Prof Brown said: “The course is specifically designed for those who work within the poultry industry and have a basic understanding of poultry health.

“By the end of the week, students will be able to recognise the clinical signs of key poultry diseases, perform a postmortem examination, and outline key diagnostic techniques including real-time PCR to detect viral genome, bacterial culturing, and microscopy.”

Prof Iqbal added: “In addition to recognising and understanding disease, and challenges to vaccination and vaccine failure, it will provide students with the ability to identify necessary biosecurity measures for a poultry farm, perform a field investigation, establish best practices for enrichment, and understand current industry issues including antimicrobial resistance.”

More details about the course, which will run from 24-28 June 2024, can be found on the Pirbright website.

Image © Shutterstock

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Equine Disease Surveillance report released for Q4 2025

News Story 1
 The latest Equine Disease Surveillance report has been released, with details on equine disease from Q4 of 2025.

The report, produced by Equine Infectious Disease Surveillance, includes advice on rule changes for equine influenza vaccination.

Statistics and maps detail recent outbreaks of equine herpes virus, equine influenza, equine strangles and equine grass sickness. A series of laboratory reports provides data on virology, bacteriology, parasitology and toxicosis.

This issue also features a case study of orthoflavivus-associated neurological disease in a horse in the UK. 

Click here for more...
News Shorts
NSA webinar explores sheep tailing and castration

The National Sheep Association (NSA) is to host a free webinar on the castration and tail docking of lambs.

The webinar, 'Understanding the tailing and castration consultation: A guide for sheep farmers', will be hosted online on Monday, 2 March 2026 at 7.30pm.

It comes during a government consultation into the methods used for these procedures. Farmers are encouraged to engage before the consultation period closes on Monday, 9 March 2026.

The webinar offers clear and actionable guidance to support farmers to contribute meaningfully to the consultation and prepare for potential changes.

On the panel will be former SVS president Kate Hovers, farmer and vet Ann Van Eetvelt and SRUC professor in Animal Health and Veterinary Sciences Cathy Dwyer. Each panel member will utilise their own specialism and expertise to evaluate risks and outcomes to sheep farming.

Find out more about the webinar on the NSA website.