My aim is to reduce the clinical impact of endemic infectious diseases of farmed animals.

My main research discipline is epidemiology, where we can further our understanding of infectious disease processes through data collection, careful analysis, modelling and interpretation in a biological framework. However, to achieve the aim of improving animal health I research in a multidisciplinary setting, because change in disease management will come about through both furthering our biological knowledge and our social understanding of attitude to disease processes. I therefore collaborate with laboratory scientists to further understanding of pathogens, epidemiologists and statisticians and, more recently, social scientists as well as clinicians, veterinary practitioners and farmers.

One example of particular interest is control of footrot in sheep. I currently have three research projects one combining laboratory studies of persistence of D. nodosus, the causal organism, and mathematical modelling of persistence, one investigating a novel approach to treatment and control in a clinical trial and one on technology transfer to the sheep industry. These are funded by BBSRC, DEFRA and EBLEX respectively, indicating the range from more pure to more applied research. A team of 5 PIs, 4 post docs, 2 RAs and 3 technicians contribute to this research. The outcomes will both further our biological understanding of this complex endemic disease and to offer practical advice in a way that is attractive for farmers to adopt.

Research interests:

Lameness in pigs, sheep and cattle

Pigs

An important disease of livestock in the UK is lameness and foot injuries. I have been interested in this for several years and an investigation by Niki Moutottou highlighted the prevalence of foot and limb lesions in growing pigs. [View publications].
We have recently started a further study to expand on this work and investigate the impact of floor types on health and welfare.

Sheep

View our research into footrot, a common and very debilitating disease of sheep. [View publications]

Dairy Cows

We are involved in the LAMECOW project, an EU funded study to reduce the occurrence of lameness in dairy cows. [View publications]
More details of the whole project are available on the LAMECOW project website.

Other Infectious Disease Epidemiology of Livestock

Cattle

I am involved in two of this group's studies into bovine tuberculosis:

• The impact of restocking cattle farms after the  foot and mouth disease epidemic of 2001 on the introduction and persistence of bovine tuberculosis
• A cohort study of the impact of cattle movements between and within farms on the risk of herd breakdown with bovine tuberculosis

Other cattle projects include:

• Epidemiology & transmission dynamics of endemic infectious disease in British cattle

• Foot and Mouth Disease [View publications]

Pigs

• Post weaning multisystemic wasting in pigs
• Impact of infectious disease on mortality and morbidity in British pig farms

Contact details: 

Professor Laura Green
Department of Biological Sciences
University of Warwick
Gibbet Hill Road
Coventry  CV4 7AL
U.K.

Tel: +44 (0)24 7652 3797

Email: Laura.Green@warwick.ac.uk

Biological sciences web page