Investigation article published in Epidemiology and Infection

March 1^st, 2017

Animal health surveillance enables the detection and control of animal diseases including zoonoses. Under the EU-FP7 project RISKSUR, a survey was conducted in 11 EU Member States and Switzerland to describe active surveillance components in 2011 managed by the public or private sector and identify gaps and opportunities. Information was collected about hazard, target population, geographical focus, legal obligation, management, surveillance design, risk-based sampling, and multi-hazard surveillance. Two countries were excluded due to incompleteness of data. Most of the 664 components targeted cattle (26·7%), pigs (17·5%) or poultry (16·0%). The most common surveillance objectives were demonstrating freedom from disease (43·8%) and case detection (26·8%). Over half of components applied risk-based sampling (57·1%), but mainly focused on a single population stratum (targeted risk-based) rather than differentiating between risk levels of different strata (stratified risk-based). About a third of components were multi-hazard (37·3%). Both risk-based sampling and multi-hazard surveillance were used more frequently in privately funded components. The study identified several gaps (e.g. lack of systematic documentation, inconsistent application of terminology) and opportunities (e.g. stratified risk-based sampling). The greater flexibility provided by the new EU Animal Health Law means that systematic evaluation of surveillance alternatives will be required to optimize cost-effectiveness

Bisdorff B., Schauer B., Rodriguez-Prieto V., Comin A., Brouwer A., Dorea F., Drewe J., Hoinville L., Lindberg A., Martinez-Aviles M., Martinez-Lopez B., Peyre M., Pinto-Ferreira J., Rushton J., Van Schaik G., Stark KD., Staubach C., Vicente-Rubiano M., Witteveen G., Pfeiffer D. and Hasler B.

Active animal health surveillance in European Union Member States: gaps and opportunities

Active animal health surveillance in European Union Member States: gaps and opportunities

	Veterinary Epidemiology and Public Health. Royal Veterinary College (RVC).
	Institute of Epidemiology. Friedrich Loeffler Institut-Bundesforschungsinstitut fuer Tiergesundheit (FLI).
	Facultad de Veterinaria. Universidad Complutense (UCM).
	Servicio de Inmunología Viral y Medicina Preventiva (SUAT). Centro de Vigilancia Sanitaria Veterinaria (VISAVET). Universidad Complutense (UCM).
	OIE Collaborating Centre Skriv ut - for Biotechnology-based Diagnosis of Infectious Diseases in Veterinary Medicine. National Veterinary Institute (SVA).
	Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA).
	SAFOSO AG.
	Department of Research and Development. GD Animal Health.
	Animal et Gestion intégrée des risques. Centre de Cooperation International en Recherche Agronomique pour le Developpement (CIRAD).