Preparedness activities and research needs in addressing emerging infectious animal and zoonotic diseases.

Emerging infectious animal and zoonotic diseases can inflict significant losses on animal production and public health, and threaten the safety and security of the food system. Threat analysis (forecasting), which monitors the measurable risk indicators of disease emergence, should be in place before the emergence of any threat. Animal and public health authorities develop and regularly re-evaluate disease preparedness, response and recovery plans, based on the 'One Health' principle. These plans should include surveillance, biosecurity measures, communication channels and training for personnel. Scenarios for outbreaks of natural emerging infectious disease or bioterrorist events should be prepared and practised. National and international legislation should be regularly updated to provide a robust legal basis to manage outbreaks. Reference laboratories should have reliable and validated diagnostic tools for rapid, high-throughput testing. Strict biosafety, biocontainment and biosecurity control measures must be implemented in laboratories in order to prevent the accidental or malicious release of pathogens. The pharmaceutical industry should be incentivised to develop vaccines and/or antiviral drugs against disease outbreaks. Conventions between public authorities and the pharmaceutical industry should guarantee adequate stockpiling of the pharmaceuticals needed to control large-scale outbreaks. In the early phase of disease emergence (early warning), veterinarians and stakeholders play an important role in early detection at the farm level. Upon notification, veterinary authorities must take rapid response measures to limit disease spread. National and international short- and medium-term strategic research agendas should be developed, based on a comprehensive gap analysis and horizon scan. This planning will help to guide funding agencies and non-governmental organisations in their quest to support relevant research.

Les maladies animales infectieuses et les zoonoses émergentes ont un coût élevé pour la santé animale et la santé publique, en plus d'entraîner d'importantes pertes de production dans les élevages et de menacer la sécurité des systèmes de production alimentaire. Une analyse des menaces (anticipation), grâce au suivi d'indicateurs mesurables du risque d'émergence des maladies animales, devrait être en place avant que ces menaces n'émergent. Les autorités en charge de la santé animale et de la santé publique développent et réévaluent régulièrement des plans de préparation, de réponse et de récupération vis-à-vis de maladies, sur la base du principe « Une seule santé ¼. Ces plans doivent inclure des mesures de surveillance et de biosécurité, en plus de se doter de moyens de communication et de formation du personnel. Il convient d'élaborer et de mettre en pratique des scénarios d'émergence de maladies infectieuses, que celle-ci soit d'origine naturelle ou d'origine bioterroriste. Les législations nationales et internationales en la matière doivent être actualisées régulièrement afin de fournir un fondement juridique solide à la gestion des émergences. Les laboratoires de référence doivent disposer d'outils diagnostiques fiables et validés permettant la réalisation de tests rapides et à haut débit. Des mesures strictes de contrôle de la biosécurité, du bioconfinement et de la biosûreté doivent être appliquées dans les laboratoires pour prévenir toute libération accidentelle ou malintentionnée d'agents pathogènes. L'industrie pharmaceutique doit être incitée au développement de vaccins et d'antiviraux pour maîtriser les maladies émergentes. Les conventions entre les autorités publiques et l'industrie pharmaceutique doivent permettre de garantir la constitution de stocks suffisants de produits pharmaceutiques pour maîtriser les émergences de grande ampleur. Lors des premières phases d'émergence d'un foyer (alerte précoce), les vétérinaires et autres acteurs de terrain jouent un rôle important dans la détection précoce au niveau des élevages. Dès la notification d'un foyer, les autorités vétérinaires doivent réagir rapidement afin d'en limiter la propagation. Il convient de développer des programmes nationaux et internationaux de recherche stratégique à court et moyen terme, basés sur un examen exhaustif des lacunes et sur une analyse prospective complète. Cette planification contribuera à fournir aux agences de financement et aux organisations non gouvernementales des orientations leur permettant de déterminer quel soutien apporter à la recherche.

Las enfermedades animales infecciosas y las zoonosis emergentes pueden causar pérdidas cuantiosas en los ámbitos de la producción animal y la salud pública, además de amenazar la higiene y la seguridad de los sistemas alimentarios. El análisis (pronóstico) de amenazas, que consiste en seguir de cerca indicadores cuantificables del riesgo de aparición de enfermedades animales, es algo que debería estar implantado antes de que surja toda amenaza. Las autoridades sanitarias y zoosanitarias definen y periódicamente reevalúan planes de preparación, respuesta y recuperación frente a enfermedades, basándose para ello en el principio de «Una sola salud¼. Estos planes deben incluir labores de vigilancia y medidas de seguridad biológica, además de prever cauces de comunicación y actividades de formación del personal. También hay que elaborar y aplicar planes para hipotéticos brotes infecciosos, ya sean de origen natural u obra de bioterroristas. Asimismo, a fin de contar con sólidas bases jurídicas para combatir la aparición de enfermedades, es preciso actualizar periódicamente la legislación nacional e internacional. Los laboratorios de referencia deben contar con herramientas de diagnóstico fiables y validadas que permitan efectuar pruebas rápidas y de alto rendimiento. Es preciso implantar en los laboratorios estrictas medidas de control de la protección, la contención y la seguridad biológicas para evitar toda liberación accidental o malintencionada de patógenos. Hay que incentivar asimismo a la industria farmacéutica para que desarrolle vacunas y fármacos antivirales contra las enfermedades emergentes. Por otra parte, las autoridades públicas deben suscribir con el sector farmacéutico convenios que garanticen la constitución de reservas suficientes de los productos farmacéuticos requeridos para hacer frente a la aparición de brotes de grandes dimensiones. En las primeras fases de la aparición de un foco (alerta rápida), los veterinarios y otros interlocutores cumplen una importante función para detectar con prontitud la patología dentro de las explotaciones. Al recibir notificación, las autoridades veterinarias deben reaccionar con rapidez para poner coto a la propagación de la enfermedad. Por último, a partir de un análisis exhaustivo de las carencias existentes y de un estudio prospectivo completo, es preciso elaborar planes nacionales e internacionales de investigación estratégica a corto y medio plazo. Tal planificación ayudará a orientar a los organismos de financiación y las organizaciones no gubernamentales (ONG) en su labor de apoyo a las investigaciones de interés.

Bovine tuberculosis surveillance alternatives in Belgium.

Belgium obtained the bovine tuberculosis (bTB) officially free status in 2003 (EC Decision 2003/467/EC). This study was carried out to evaluate the components of the current bTB surveillance program in Belgium and to determine the sensitivity of this program. Secondly, alternatives to optimize the bTB surveillance in accordance with European legislation (Council Directive 64/432/EEC) were evaluated. Separate scenario trees were designed for each active surveillance component of the bTB surveillance program. Data from 2005 to 2009 regarding cattle population, movement and surveillance were collected to feed the stochastic scenario tree simulation model. A total of 7,403,826 cattle movement history records were obtained for the 2,678,020 cattle from 36,059 cattle herds still active in 2009. The current surveillance program sensitivity as well as the impact of alternative surveillance protocols was simulated in a stochastic model using 10,000 iterations per simulation. The median (50% percentile) of the component sensitivities across 10,000 iterations was 0.83, 0.85, 0.99, 0.99, respectively, for (i) testing the cattle only during the winter screening, (ii) testing only imported cattle, (iii) testing only purchased cattle and (iv) testing only all slaughtered cattle. The sensitivity analysis showed that the most influential input parameter explaining the variability around the output came from the uncertainty distribution around the sensitivity of the diagnostic tests used within the bTB surveillance. Providing all animals are inspected and post mortem inspection is highly sensitive, slaughterhouse surveillance was the most effective surveillance component. If these conditions were not met, the uncertainty around the mean sensitivity of this component was important. Using an antibody ELISA at purchase and an interferon gamma test during winter screening and at import would increase greatly the sensitivity and the confidence level of Belgium's freedom from bTB infection status.

Monitoring of the intra-dermal tuberculosis skin test performed by Belgian field practitioners.

The present study aimed to monitor skin test practices as performed by veterinarian field practitioners in Belgium. For this purpose, an anonymous postal questionnaire was elaborated and dispatched to veterinarians involved in bovine tuberculosis detection. The questionnaire included items focusing on the skin test performance. International experts in the field of bovine tuberculosis were asked to fill the questionnaire and a scoring scale was built as follows: 0 = 'ideal' answer, 1 = acceptable answer, whereas 2 = unacceptable answer. Furthermore, experts were asked to rank the questionnaire's items according to their possible impact on the risk of not detecting reactors. A global score was further calculated for each participant and a comparison of practices was carried out between the two regions of the country, i.e. Wallonia and Flanders. Significant differences were observed between both regions, a harmonization at the country level is thus essential. No veterinarian summed a null score, corresponding to the ideal skin test procedure, which suggests that skin-testing is far from being performed correctly. Field practitioners need to be sensitized to the importance of correctly performing the test. The authors recommend the questionnaire is suitable for application in other countries or regions.