Manual on Livestock Disease Surveillance and Information Systems


Book Description

Defining importance of diseases; FAO/EMPRES: a new emphasis; Early detection; The need for surveillance; What is surveillance?; Surveillance on the ground; Putting a surveilance system in place; Surveillance for what?; Surveillance when and how?; Surveillance in resource-poor countries; Information systems; Setting the goals; Determining needs and outputs; Computerisation; Questionnaire design; Databases; Data quality control; Feedback; The role of GIS; Motivating and training field staff; Awareness creation among decision-makers; Using surveillance as a management tool; FAO involvement in surveillance and information systems development; Examples of questionnaires.




Risk-based Disease Surveillance


Book Description

"Increasing global population and improvements in the standard of living mean that there is a rapidly increasing demand for animal protein with intensified animal production. The international movement of animals and animal products has been made cheaper and faster through improved transport infrastructure. Increasing human and livestock population has placed pressure on wildlife habitats, resulting in closer contact between wildlife, domestic animal populations and humans with spreading and re-emergence of diseases as consequences of these risk factors. Managing these disease threats poses enormous challenges and requires good quality information: what diseases exist; where they are found; what impact they are having; which populations are at risk; how we can prevent, control or eradicate these diseases. Animal disease surveillance plays a central role in providing this information. Risk-based surveillance is not a particular technique; rather, it describes a general approach to undertaking disease surveillance. The principle is simple and self-evident: the most efficient way to find disease is to survey the animal populations that are most likely to be affected. This is in contrast to the more traditional statistically-based approach of taking representative samples from a population. While the idea of risk-based surveillance is simple, the implications are complex. The approach can be much more cost-effective for some purposes, but if misused, it can lead to serious errors or it can be more expensive than traditional approaches." --Publisher's description.




Animal Disease Surveillance and Survey Systems


Book Description

This valuable text presents methods and techniques for conducting an animal disease surveillance program, and developing an animal health moitoring system. The text is a 'recipe book' for these techniques as it explains modern techniques, while emphasizing the fundamentals and principles of using these techniques.The book is targeted to epidemiologists and other animal health authorities who are working in national, regional, and international programs. The book can be used as a text for professional and postgraduate training curricula. This text will be of value in veterinary epidemiology and regulatory medicine, where there is need for a concise collection of material on animal disease monitoring, surveillance, and reporting strategies. This need arises from a new era of international trade regulations based on animal diseases, new demands for accountability in utilization of research funds, and calls for prioritizing and economically justifying animal health regulatory and diagnostic activities.







Anthrax in Humans and Animals


Book Description

This fourth edition of the anthrax guidelines encompasses a systematic review of the extensive new scientific literature and relevant publications up to end 2007 including all the new information that emerged in the 3-4 years after the anthrax letter events. This updated edition provides information on the disease and its importance, its etiology and ecology, and offers guidance on the detection, diagnostic, epidemiology, disinfection and decontamination, treatment and prophylaxis procedures, as well as control and surveillance processes for anthrax in humans and animals. With two rounds of a rigorous peer-review process, it is a relevant source of information for the management of anthrax in humans and animals.




Communicable Disease Control in Emergencies


Book Description

This field manual is intended to help health professionals and public health coordinators working in emergency situations prevent, detect and control the major communicable diseases encountered by affected populations. The manual is the result of collaboration among a number of WHO departments and several external partner agencies in reviewing existing guidelines on communicable disease control and adapting them to emergency situations. The manual deals with the fundamental principles of communicable disease control in emergencies, which are: Rapid assessment to identify the communicable disease threats faced by the emergency-affected population, including those with epidemic potential, and define the health status of the population by conducting a rapid assessment; Prevention to prevent communicable disease by maintaining a healthy physical environment and good general living conditions; Surveillance to set up or strengthen disease surveillance system with an early warning mechanism to ensure the early reporting of cases to monitor disease trends, and to facilitate prompt detection and response to outbreaks; outbreak control to ensure outbreaks are rapidly detected and controlled through adequate preparedness (i.e. stockpiles, standard treatment protocols and staff training) and rapid response (i.e.confirmation, investigation and implementation of control measures); and disease management to diagnose and treat cases promptly with trained staff using effective treatment and standard protocols at all health facilities.




Infectious Disease Surveillance


Book Description

This fully updated edition of Infectious Disease Surveillance is for frontline public health practitioners, epidemiologists, and clinical microbiologists who are engaged in communicable disease control. It is also a foundational text for trainees in public health, applied epidemiology, postgraduate medicine and nursing programs. The second edition portrays both the conceptual framework and practical aspects of infectious disease surveillance. It is a comprehensive resource designed to improve the tracking of infectious diseases and to serve as a starting point in the development of new surveillance systems. Infectious Disease Surveillance includes over 45 chapters from over 100 contributors, and topics organized into six sections based on major themes. Section One highlights the critical role surveillance plays in public health and it provides an overview of the current International Health Regulations (2005) in addition to successes and challenges in infectious disease eradication. Section Two describes surveillance systems based on logical program areas such as foodborne illnesses, vector-borne diseases, sexually transmitted diseases, viral hepatitis healthcare and transplantation associated infections. Attention is devoted to programs for monitoring unexplained deaths, agents of bioterrorism, mass gatherings, and disease associated with international travel. Sections Three and Four explore the uses of the Internet and wireless technologies to advance infectious disease surveillance in various settings with emphasis on best practices based on deployed systems. They also address molecular laboratory methods, and statistical and geospatial analysis, and evaluation of systems for early epidemic detection. Sections Five and Six discuss legal and ethical considerations, communication strategies and applied epidemiology-training programs. The rest of the chapters offer public-private partnerships, as well lessons from the 2009-2010 H1N1 influenza pandemic and future directions for infectious disease surveillance.







Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics in Africa


Book Description

An introduction to the planning and evaluation of disease control policy; Epidemiology: some basic concepts and definitions; The use of descriptive statistics in the presentation of epidemiological data; The epidemiological approach to investigating disease problems; Statistical methods in the analysis of epidemiological data; An introduction to the use of economics in the planning and evaluation of disease control programmes; Estimating the costs of diseases and the benefits of their control; Economics and decision-making in disease control policy; Modelling in veterinary epidemiology and economics.




Sustaining Global Surveillance and Response to Emerging Zoonotic Diseases


Book Description

H1N1 ("swine flu"), SARS, mad cow disease, and HIV/AIDS are a few examples of zoonotic diseases-diseases transmitted between humans and animals. Zoonotic diseases are a growing concern given multiple factors: their often novel and unpredictable nature, their ability to emerge anywhere and spread rapidly around the globe, and their major economic toll on several disparate industries. Infectious disease surveillance systems are used to detect this threat to human and animal health. By systematically collecting data on the occurrence of infectious diseases in humans and animals, investigators can track the spread of disease and provide an early warning to human and animal health officials, nationally and internationally, for follow-up and response. Unfortunately, and for many reasons, current disease surveillance has been ineffective or untimely in alerting officials to emerging zoonotic diseases. Sustaining Global Surveillance and Response to Emerging Zoonotic Diseases assesses some of the disease surveillance systems around the world, and recommends ways to improve early detection and response. The book presents solutions for improved coordination between human and animal health sectors, and among governments and international organizations. Parties seeking to improve the detection and response to zoonotic diseases-including U.S. government and international health policy makers, researchers, epidemiologists, human health clinicians, and veterinarians-can use this book to help curtail the threat zoonotic diseases pose to economies, societies, and health.