Animal & Plant Health Agency (APHA)

About

APHA is an executive agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and also works on behalf of the Scottish Government and Welsh Government.

We employ over 2,000 people, including scientists, veterinarians and inspectors, technical and administrative staff who work at our laboratories, veterinary investigation centres, field service offices, customer service centres, and airports and ports across the UK.
We are at the forefront of maintaining biosecurity to protect animal, plant and bee health from the risk and impact of new, emerging and re-emerging pests and diseases.

We do this by:

• Disease surveillance and investigations
• Laboratories testing and diagnosis
• Scientific research
• Audits and inspections
• Monitoring compliance with legislation and regulations

We also provide an emergency response to identify, manage and control disease and pest outbreaks, utilising the agency’s scientific disciplines: epidemiology, virology, bacteriology, pathology, parasitology, biomathematics, modelling and risk analysis, molecular biology, immunology and ecology.

Role In the National Laboratories Alliance

Much of APHA’s scientific activity is focused on protecting Great Britain against the threat and impact of a wide variety of animal diseases and other species conflicts. Many of these diseases also infect humans.

Our research provides scientific evidence that allows us to provide expert advice and supports policy development for the government and the European Union. We work with farmers, vets and managers in the field and undertake surveillance activities to detect and respond to exotic diseases, and to identify and assess new and emerging diseases in livestock and wildlife.

Our main areas of research include:

• Bovine tuberculosis and development of vaccines and diagnostic tests for badgers and cattle
• Bacterial diseases and food safety including food-borne bacteria such as Salmonella, campylobacter and E.coli, bacterial pathogens such as Brucella and Mycoplasma, and antimicrobial resistance
• Viral diseases including avian and mammalian viruses such as Newcastle disease, influenza and classical swine fever, zoonotic and wildlife viruses such as rabies and vector-borne diseases
• Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs)
• Wildlife management including wildlife diseases, invasive non-native species, methods development and human-wildlife conflicts