Economic Benefits of Diagnostic Testing in Livestock: Anaplasmosis in Cattle.

Ashley F Railey,Thomas L Marsh

doi:10.3389/fvets.2021.626420

Abstract

Anaplasmosis is a costly livestock disease that persists across the United States and the world. While the traditional control options of feed additives, vaccination, and post-infection antibiotic treatments exist, the highly infectious, often asymptomatic onset of anaplasmosis in cattle makes the optimal combination of disease control measures uncertain. Reducing the infection uncertainty through early detection may help producer management decisions and reduce the economic impact of anaplasmosis. To address this, we calculate the costs of applying a range of anaplasmosis control decisions for a representative cow-calf producer in the United States and extend existing analyses to incorporate early detection through diagnostic testing. We use parameters from extant literature, including for mortality, morbidity, and treatment costs to populate a stochastic, dynamic model. Updating the cost estimates finds that production losses account for the majority of anaplasmosis costs, following previous empirical estimates. Using these estimates in our decision model, the outcomes suggest that diagnostic testing with preventative treatments is the optimal herd management strategy. By further framing our findings in the context of three anaplasmosis infection regions in the United States (endemic, disease free, non-endemic buffer), we show that additional considerations exist, which can make sub-optimal control strategies competitive. Our analysis provides an initial exploration of the economic feasibility of diagnostic testing, while helping to assess the burden of anaplasmosis more accurately.

Highlights

The production losses and costs to treat anaplasmosis impose significant economic burdens on cattle sectors worldwide [1,2,3]
The objective of our analysis is to identify the minimal cost anaplasmosis herd management strategy with diagnostic testing, given a random, exogenously determined, probability of herd infection
Death loss contributes to the majority of anaplasmosis economic losses at 66%, followed by 16% from treatment, 11% from chronic cases, and 7% abortions

Summary

Introduction

The production losses and costs to treat anaplasmosis impose significant economic burdens on cattle sectors worldwide [1,2,3]. The emergence of anaplasmosis in a herd can cause a 30% increase in the cull rate, 20–30% loss in body weight, and death or abortions in clinically infected animals [4]. In the United States, death loss and treatments of infected animals on average account for the majority of total disease costs [5]. A producer’s ability to minimize anaplasmosis treatment costs and productivity losses in the United States is hampered by infection uncertainty from late detection of infected animals and geographic variation in seroprevalence. In disease-free areas, late treatment can further increase the infection rate such that culling to reduce transmission becomes the optimal strategy [6].

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion