Animal Health Surveillance Flashcards
What is animal health surveillance?
- Identifies important disease events in animal populations
- Allows farmers, vets, and government disease control agencies to develop timely and appropriate responses to either eradicate, control, or mitigate the adverse effects of diseases
WHO definition of surveillance
The ongoing systematic collection, collation, analysis and interpretation of data and the dissemination of information to those who need to know in order for action to be taken
Components of disease surveillance systems
- Early detection
- Early response
Early detection
- Uses a defined disease monitoring system
- Involves a defined level or threshold of disease at which an intervention should take place
Early response
A defined set of interventions that will be undertaken if and when the threshold is reached. The interventions will vary based on disease and its impact on public health and economics
General purposes of disease surveillance
- Demonstrating freedom from disease
- Early detection of disease
- Measuring the level of disease
- Finding cases of disease
Key steps when disease is not currently or usually present
- Early detection
- Demonstrate freedom
Key steps when diseases are present
- Case finding
- Measure level of disease
What kinds of diseases are not currently or normally present?
- Exotic diseases (eg. African swine fever)
- Emerging diseases (eg.Lyme disease)
- New diseases
- Epidemic diseases (ex.Anthrax)
What is an emerging disease?
Recently identifiable diseases that are changing in their importance due to increased host range, pathogenicity or spread
Eg. Lyme Disease
What is an epidemic disease?
Diseases which may be present but appear sporadically in the form of an outbreak
Why is it important to demonstrate freedom of a disease?
- Trade access- ability to export animals or animal products
- Trade barriers- allows country that has demonstrated freedom to prevent imports
- Stopping control or eradication measures that have been in place
- Public health measures could be lifted if freedom demonstrated from a zoonotic disease
- Political reasons
Why is it important to have early detection?
- Early response increases effectiveness of eradication or control programs
- Also prevents the spread to other countries if caught early enough
Endemic Diseases
Diseases that are always present in the population
Can determine if they are at baseline (normal within specific population), increasing or decreasing
Spatial distribution of disease
Understanding spatial risk factors
- Establishing disease free zones
Ex. Disease in eastern Canada, but not in western Canada
Temporal distribution of disease
- Monitoring control programs over time by looking at trends including early detection of changes in endemic disease
- Identify risk factors for disease and production practices that influence disease status
Finding cases of disease
- Identify individual cases or individual outbreaks
- Usually part of a disease control program
Disease control program examples
- Bovine spongiform encephalitis (BSE)
- Tuberculosis lesions at slaughter
- Tuberculosis testing in countries where it is endemic (Eg. UK)