At the end of 2023, Royal GD, commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, started a study into the prevalence and risk factors of botulism infections in the Netherlands. Within this project, GD collaborates with the pharmacy of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Wageningen Bioveterinary Research (WBVR).
In the Netherlands, cattle on approximately 35 farms contract the disease every year. Due to the serious damage to animal health and welfare on farms, it is desirable to protect animals at risk. However, there is no botulism vaccine available in the EU that can be used to treat cattle.
Within this study, vaccinations can be carried out under certain conditions. And the vaccine for that is now available. The results of this study can be used to substantiate the need for authorization of a vaccine against botulism. The research is aimed at companies that want to vaccinate as an intervention in an outbreak and at companies that want to vaccinate to prevent an outbreak.
What will GD investigate?
GD maps out the risk factors of botulism on (affected) cattle farms in order to substantiate them.
- Determine how often vaccination is desirable in case of botulism infection and determine whether it is botulism (pathological examination and PCR by WBVR).
- Describe the business characteristics of the companies that vaccinated during the study.
- Describe as accurately as possible the damage to farms affected by an outbreak, the number of animals that have died as a result, the loss of production and other reported collateral damage.
- All data is processed anonymously and cannot be traced back to individual companies.
Botulism research desk
If there is an outbreak or a company is at risk of botulism, the veterinarian can contact the ‘Botulism research’ counter via Veekijker beef, telephone 088-2025555 to discuss participation in the study and the use of the vaccine. .
Source: GD
