Characterising Biosecurity Initiatives Globally to Support the Development of a Progressive Management Pathway for Terrestrial Animals: A Scoping Review.

While biosecurity is of increasing importance globally, there is still limited evidence of the factors or elements that support the progressive and sustainable scaling up of biosecurity along the value chains from the local to the global level. To gain insight into the current body of literature on biosecurity, a mixed-methods approach was used based on a scoping literature review and an online survey with subject matter experts. Six databases were searched for published literature, and textual information from titles and abstracts of all included records (n = 266) were analysed through inductive content analysis to build biosecurity-relevant categories and identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) of existing biosecurity systems or initiatives (such as projects or programs). Most records focused on initiatives in high-income countries, traditional livestock species (pigs, poultry, and large ruminants), and the production stage and had a disease-specific focus. No records described a comprehensive or global framework to progressively scale up biosecurity. Overall, the findings highlight the need for initiatives such as the FAO Progressive Management Pathway for Terrestrial Animal Biosecurity (FAO-PMP-TAB), which is a stepwise approach for strengthening biosecurity management along value chains to enhance the health, resilience, and sustainability of animal sectors. The findings highlight important elements and provide recommendations useful for developing approaches or a global framework to progressively improve biosecurity management.

PRAGMATIST: A tool to prioritize foot-and-mouth disease virus antigens held in vaccine banks.

Antigen banks have been established to supply foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) vaccines at short notice to respond to incursions or upsurges in cases of FMDV infection. Multiple vaccine strains are needed to protect against specific FMDV lineages that circulate within six viral serotypes that are unevenly distributed across the world. The optimal selection of distinct antigens held in a bank must carefully balance the desire to cover these risks with the costs of purchasing and maintaining vaccine antigens. PRAGMATIST is a semi-quantitative FMD vaccine strain selection tool combining three strands of evidence: (1) estimates of the risk of incursion from specific areas (source area score); (2) estimates of the relative prevalence of FMD viral lineages in each specific area (lineage distribution score); and (3) effectiveness of each vaccine against specific FMDV lineages based on laboratory vaccine matching tests (vaccine coverage score). The output is a vaccine score, which identifies vaccine strains that best address the threats, and consequently which are the highest priority for inclusion in vaccine antigen banks. In this paper, data used to populate PRAGMATIST are described, including the results from expert elicitations regarding FMD risk and viral lineage circulation, while vaccine coverage data is provided from vaccine matching tests performed at the WRLFMD between 2011 and 2021 (n = 2,150). These data were tailored to working examples for three hypothetical vaccine antigen bank perspectives (Europe, North America, and Australia). The results highlight the variation in the vaccine antigens required for storage in these different regions, dependent on risk. While the tool outputs are largely robust to uncertainty in the input parameters, variation in vaccine coverage score had the most noticeable impact on the estimated risk covered by each vaccine, particularly for vaccines that provide substantial risk coverage across several lineages.

Parallels, differences and lessons: a comparison of the management of foot-and-mouth disease and COVID-19 using UK 2001/2020 as points of reference.

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is an extremely infectious viral infection of cloven-hoofed animals which is highly challenging to control and can give rise to national animal health crises, especially if there is a lack of pre-existing immunity due to the emergence of new strains or following incursions into disease-free regions. The 2001 FMD epidemic in the UK was on a scale that initially overwhelmed the national veterinary services and was eventually controlled by livestock lockdown and slaughter on an unprecedented scale. In 2020, the rapid emergence of COVID-19 has led to a human pandemic unparalleled in living memory. The enormous logistics of multi-agency control efforts for COVID-19 are reminiscent of the 2001 FMD epidemic in the UK, as are the use of movement restrictions, not normally a feature of human disease control. The UK experience is internationally relevant as few countries have experienced national epidemic crises for both diseases. In this review, we reflect on the experiences and lessons learnt from UK and international responses to FMD and COVID-19 with respect to their management, including the challenge of preclinical viral transmission, threat awareness, early detection, different interpretations of scientific information, lockdown, biosecurity behaviour change, shortage of testing capacity and the choices for eradication versus living with infection. A major lesson is that the similarity of issues and critical resources needed to manage large-scale outbreaks demonstrates that there is benefit to a 'One Health' approach to preparedness, with potential for greater cooperation in planning and the consideration of shared critical resources.

Public Health Considerations Associated with the Location and Operation of Off-Leash Dog Parks.

Off-leash dog parks may enhance human health, but may also lead to health risk through infection or canine aggression. Published evidence was reviewed to examine positive and negative public health impacts of off-leash dog parks, as well as strategies for enhancing benefits and mitigating risks. Evidence suggests that off-leash dog parks can benefit physical and social health, as well as community connectedness. While studies have documented shedding of zoonotic agents in dog parks, the risk of transmission to humans is relatively unknown. Evidence on the risk of dog bites in off-leash dog parks is also limited. Case-examples from North American off-leash dog parks highlight the importance of park location/design, public adherence to safe and hygienic practices, and effective regulatory strategies for mitigating potential risks and maximizing the benefits of off-leash dog parks.

Factors associated with the early detection of foot-and-mouth disease during the 2001 epidemic in the United Kingdom.

An essential objective of an effective foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) eradication campaign is to shorten the infectious period by rapidly detecting and destroying cases of disease. The purpose of our investigation was to identify factors associated with the early detection of clinical FMD during the 2001 outbreak in the United Kingdom. We performed a logistic regression analysis, using early versus late detection of disease as the outcome of interest.During the 2001 FMD outbreak in the United Kingdom, infected premises were more likely to be detected early under the following circumstances: 1) cattle (particularly dairy) were infected rather than sheep; 2) a recently confirmed infected premises was within 3 km of the new case; and 3) the case was initially reported by the farmer, rather than a Local Disease Control Centre-initiated surveillance activity (patrol, tracing, pre-emptive cull). Our findings suggest that reporting by farmers and initiatives that increase farmer education and awareness should be encouraged.

Description of recent foot and mouth disease outbreaks in nonendemic areas: exploring the relationship between early detection and epidemic size.

The objective of this investigation was to describe the detection of foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks in nonendemic areas, and to consider how events early in an epidemic influence the epidemic's course. We identified 24 epidemics that occurred between 1992 and 2003 in areas officially considered free of FMD. We obtained information about these epidemics from many sources, including the scientific literature, the grey (non peer-reviewed) literature, and individuals involved with the outbreaks. While most of the epidemics consisted of fewer than 150 infected premises, there were 4 extremely large epidemics, each consisting of more than 2000 infected premises. There was no direct relationship between the time to detection and either the total number of infected premises or the number of animals killed for disease control purposes. We believe that the movement of infected animals through markets was the most critical factor that contributed to the unusual magnitude of the very large epidemics.

Reporting of suspect cases of foot-and-mouth-disease during the 2001 epidemic in the UK, and the herd sensitivity and herd specificity of clinical diagnosis.

We described the clinical diagnostic process utilized during the 2001 epidemic of foot-and-mouth-disease in the United Kingdom (UK), and considered it as a series of diagnostic tests. Premises were classified according to these diagnostic-test results and actual disease status, determined by the reference test, which in this case was one or more internationally accepted laboratory tests. The herd-level sensitivity (HSe) and herd-level specificity (HSp) of the clinical diagnostic process were calculated directly, relative to these internationally accepted reference tests. In this process, the first diagnostic test was 'routine monitoring', which resulted in the identification of suspect cases based solely on the clinical observations of farmers or veterinarians. 6762 suspect cases were identified, and the test had a HSe of 97.6% (95% C.I.: 96.7, 98.3) and a HSp of 95.2% (95% C.I.: 95.0, 95.3). Suspect cases were then subject to the second diagnostic test, termed 'declaration', which consisted of a review of a description of the clinical signs by government veterinarians. Premises that tested positive became 'clinical cases'. The HSe of this test was 97.1% (95% C.I.: 96.2, 97.9), and the HSp was 90.9% (95% C.I.: 90.1, 91.6). During the epidemic, these tests were combined and applied in series, with an overall HSe of 94.7% (95% C.I.: 93.5, 95.7) and an overall HSp of 99.6% (95% C.I.: 99.5, 99.6). We also examined the effect of a policy shift that prohibited delaying the diagnosis pending laboratory testing where the animals exhibited equivocal clinical signs.

Factors associated with the clinical diagnosis of foot and mouth disease during the 2001 epidemic in the UK.

The purpose of this investigation was to identify factors associated with the clinical diagnosis of foot and mouth disease during the 2001 epidemic in the United Kingdom. Using logistic regression, we compared: (1) reports of suspect disease that resulted in the declaration of FMD to reports that did not, and (2) laboratory-positive cases to laboratory-negative cases. From 6,801 reports of suspect disease, 2,026 cases of FMD were identified. Suspect cases were more likely to become clinical cases if: (1) the report originated from the disease control authorities ('active surveillance') rather than the public, usually farmers ('passive surveillance'); (2) cattle were the species suspected of disease, as opposed to sheep; (3) the report was filed during the peak of the epidemic; (4) the reporting premises was within 3 km of an FMD case detected within the previous 2 weeks; or (5) the report originated from certain local disease control centres. There were significant two-way interactions between: type of surveillance and species suspected of disease, type of surveillance and proximity of other infected premises, species suspected and time in the epidemic, and time in the epidemic and proximity of other infected premises. Clinical cases were more likely to be laboratory positive if: (1) they were found by passive versus active surveillance, (2) cattle were suspected of disease (versus sheep), (3) oldest lesions were less than 3 days, (4) the report was filed at any time other than the peak of the epidemic, or (5) the report originated from certain local disease control centres. Significant two-way interactions were found between: type of surveillance and species suspected of disease, and type of surveillance and time in the epidemic.