Disease Control, Prevention and On-Farm Biosecurity: The Role of Veterinary Epidemiology

Abstract

Domesticated and non-domesticated animals, including wildlife, deliver significant financial and nonfinancial benefits to the human community; however, disease can have a dramatic impact on the morbidity, mortality, and productivity of these animal populations and hence can directly and indirectly affect the human communities associated with them. This manuscript provides an overview of the important features to consider for the prevention and control of disease, with a focus on livestock diseases, and highlights the key role veterinary epidemiology plays in this endeavor. Measures of disease frequency and the type of epidemiological studies required to identify risk
factors for diseases are summarized, with a focus on the use of these in the implementation of measures to control disease. The importance of biosecurity in maintaining disease-free flocks/herds is discussed and the steps taken to implement good biosecurity measures are outlined. It is concluded that a sound knowledge of veterinary epidemiology is required when developing control programs for disease and implementing biosecurity programs at a farm, regional, and national level.

Keywords

Biosecurity / Disease control / Epidemiology

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