The virtual multidisciplinary NEEG relies heavily on key relationships with a range of experts, for example research and diagnostic scientists; disease experts; risk analysts; species experts; and teams that trace movements of infected animals and people (at Cardiff Customer Service Centre); international trade and disease monitoring. Inter-relationships between the science and policy groups during a disease outbreak are key to a successful response, and therefore many groups and committees meet and work collaboratively together to control and eradicate the disease during the outbreak. For this reason, a series of daily and weekly meetings are always established at the start of an outbreak to coordinate all activities, participants and events. You will be asked to sign a consent form that gives your permission to do the procedure. Read the form carefully and ask questions if something is not clear.

The group’s purpose is to provide the UK CVOs and both Defra and devolved administration policy teams with expert epidemiological opinion relevant to government policies designed to protect the UK from disease threats. The NEEG leads regular training for veterinary, technical, and scientific staff. This includes training APHA vets on how to perform the duty epidemiologist role, how to draft epidemiological reports and briefs for the UK CVOs and how to conduct veterinary risk assessments. The NEEG is an APHA emergency group which is rapidly formed in response to disease incidents which have the potential for high impact on animal or public health, and rapid spread. These notifiable animal diseases must be reported to APHA. Typically, the NEEG is mobilised once a notifiable disease has been identified by our diagnostic team and confirmed at a disease confirmation teleconference led by the UK’s Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) or the CVO for Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland (depending on the where the outbreak is). One of the strengths of the NEEG is that it can also be mobilised before disease is confirmed, if there is a strong suspicion of a notifiable disease. This significantly increases the speed of the disease investigation, especially the gathering of potential source and spread tracings, which are key to disease control. UK Chief Veterinary Officer, Christine Middlemiss Each team plays a different role, bringing different skillsets to the virtual team across the UK with the overarching goal being the successful and timely response to the outbreak. Drinks containing caffeine, such as coffee, cola, and tea (while these drinks can occasionally alter the EEG results, this almost never interferes significantly with the interpretation of the test)

Health

Your healthcare provider will inform you when you may resume any medicines you stopped taking before the test.

An EEG may be done on an outpatient basis, or as part of your stay in a hospital. Procedures may vary depending on your condition and your healthcare provider's practices. Talk with your healthcare provider about what you will experience during your test. Wash your hair with shampoo, but do not use a conditioner the night before the test. Do not use any hair care products, such as hairspray or gels. This study is generally done by an EEG technician and may take approximately 45 minutes to 2 hours. Our rapid response draws on world-renowned expertise from across APHA, Defra and beyond, and has been called upon most recently to respond to the current avian influenza outbreak. Providing expert epidemiological opinion The NEEG’s successful structure and incident management approach is also used within APHA for other disease threats, such as bovine tuberculosis (bTB) or investigations of imported disease cases (such as Brucella canis from dogs). Read our blog on this scenario.

Next steps

Once the recording begins, you will need to remain still throughout the test. Your healthcare provider may monitor you through a window in an adjoining room to observe any movements that can cause an inaccurate reading, such as swallowing or blinking. The recording may be stopped periodically to let you rest or reposition yourself. The NEEG is a multidisciplinary team, bringing together many people from across APHA: the NEEG executive, a team of epidemiologists that work ‘on the ground’ where disease and animals are found, a team of epidemiologists that analyse the data available from their desks, modellers, data specialists, wildlife experts, disease experts, laboratory teams that conduct the testing for diseases plus a business management and scientific project management team. Ask your healthcare provider to tell you what you should do before your test. Below is a list of common steps that you may be asked to do.