Unit 16 -- Part 1 The Role of Government in Animal Health Management  

Background

A concern for the health and well-being of the American public has resulted in establishment of specific requirements regarding animal health. The reasons for this are two-fold:

1. Animal health is critical to nation's ability to feed it's people
2. Man and animal share many diseases, termed zoonoses

Many diseases of man (zoonotic diseases) can only be controlled once the disease is controlled in the animals with whom man shares his/her living space. Examples of these diseases are brucellosis and tuberculosis.

Government alone has the power to:

  • impose control mechanisms to exclude infectious agents
  • find introduced infectious agents
  • fix infectious agents in a region through quarantine and control of animal movement (refer to Unit 5)
  • eradicate disease (agent)
  • follow up with surveillance to avoid reintroduction

Characteristics of the host, environment and agent influence whether an individual manager can control the disease or whether it will take regional (governmental) efforts.

Individual Herd Control Regional Control
 1. agent can be contained within a barrier  1. agent can rapidly spread beyond barriers
 2. rate of spread is slow within a herd or flock  2. rate of spread too fast to control within herd
 3. can easily detect sick and carrier animals  3. carriers are apparently healthy and detected only with laboratory tests
 4. agent is not a human health threat  4. agent is a human health threat
 5. little or no mortality  5. high morbidity and mortality or severe long-term effect
 6. effective vaccine/treatment available/practicable  6. vaccine/treatment less effective or vaccine creates problem
 7. control possible without cooperation from neighbors  7. control only possible on regional basis

* Adapted from Regional Programs for Control of Animal Diseases, Robert Hanson & Martha Hanson, University of Wisconsin, by G. B. E. West, University of California, Davis.

Some diseases would be catastrophic and could threaten our nation's food supply or economy, if they became established in the United States.

Mechanisms of government regulation of Animal Health

1. Control of Animal Movement within a Region.

Control of animal movement from state to state within the United States is under the control of each individual state.

The following rules currently apply for the state of Indiana:

  • Import permits -- import permits are required to bring cattle and swine into Indiana
  • Health permits, test requirements -- these are required in Indiana under a number of circumstances as outlined below:

a. interstate movement of livestock, dogs, cats
b. change of ownership - cattle & swine
c. exhibition - cattle & swine

  • Emergency Rules -- under certain circumstances, such as a disease outbreak elsewhere, additional rules apply

Additional information may be obtained by contacting the Indiana State Board of Animal Health, 805 Beachway Drive Suite 50, Indianapolis, IN 46224-7785 (phone 317/227-0300).

In addition to individual state control, the USDA may restrict movement of animals into the United States from other countries. Examples of this are restrictions on pork imports from the United Kingdom and restrictions on importation of live birds and poultry from Norway and Northern Ireland.

2. Quarantine of infected premises, with possible depopulation of animals

3. Surveillance for and monitoring of disease by means such as:

a. testing for disease in animals being moved
b. testing of animals at slaughter
c. other specified regulatory tests (PRV, brucellosis ring test)

 

Reportable diseases in Indiana

There are two types of diseases being regulated in the state of Indiana, diseases that could have adverse effect on human health, and diseases that could have adverse effect on the economic health of the livestock industry in Indiana.

Zoonotic Diseases
1. Anthrax
2. Brucellosis
3. Rabies
4. Scabies
5. Tuberculosis

Diseases of importance to animal industry
1. Equine infectious anemia
2. Mycoplasma gallisepticum (turkeys)
3. Pseudorabies (swine)
4. Scrapie (sheep)
5. Vesicular diseases
6. All foreign animal diseases

In addition, there are some diseases that could be considered in both of the above groupings

1. Pullorum Disease (Salmonella pullorum)
2. Fowl typhoid (Salmonella gallinarum)
3. Johne's disease (Mycobacterium paratuberculosis)

Some of the diseases listed above are being actively eradicated; some are simply being monitored. Examples of diseases being actively eradicated are:

1.  Brucellosis
2. Tuberculosis
3. Pseudorabies
4. any foreign animal disease

    In considering whether an attempt will be made to eradicate a disease or whether it will simply be monitored, the cost of eradication is weighed against the expected benefit of the eradication. An example of this type of cost/benefit analysis is discussed in a Dispatch on "Assessing the Costs and Benefits of an Oral Vaccine for Raccoon Rabies: A Possible Model" in Emerging Infectious Diseases.

    The consequences of  an outbreak of serious disease are exemplified by the hog cholera outbreak in the Netherlands in 1997.  As of March, 1998, more than 10 million hogs had been destroyed.  Problems associated with the spread of the disease, and important steps taken to stop the spread of disease are discussed in the article "Lessons From The Netherlands", National Hog Farmer, May15, 1998.

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