Abstract
The transmission of infectious diseases of livestock does not differ in principle from disease transmission in any other animals, apart from that the aim of control is ultimately economic, with the influence of social, political and welfare constraints often poorly defined. Modelling of livestock diseases suffers simultaneously from a wealth and a lack of data. On the one hand, the ability to conduct transmission experiments, detailed within-host studies and track individual animals between geocoded locations make livestock diseases a particularly rich potential source of realistic data for illuminating biological mechanisms of transmission and conducting explicit analyses of contact networks. On the other hand, scarcity of funding, as compared to human diseases, often results in incomplete and partial data for many livestock diseases and regions of the world. In this overview of challenges in livestock disease modelling, we highlight eight areas unique to livestock that, if addressed, would mark major progress in the area.
Highlights
The global livestock population is growing rapidly in order to meet the increasing demand for meat and dairy products from the expanding human population
The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) estimate that there are currently upwards of 1.5 billion cattle, 1.1 billion sheep, 0.97 billion pigs and goats and 60 million horses in an industry that employs at least 1.3 billion people
If indirect transmission occurs when individuals are spatially separated, when starting with a clean environment, the transmission rate remains zero for some time, and gradually increases (Dekker et al, 2013; Van Bunnik et al, 2014). These results show that a proper way to scale indirect transmission with population size and density is needed: an important new challenge to be addressed by transmission experiments and, wherever possible, field observations to ground experimental data
Summary
The global livestock population is growing rapidly in order to meet the increasing demand for meat and dairy products from the expanding human population. Infectious diseases pose a persistent challenge for the livestock industry. In this paper we define eight challenges related to modelling diseases of livestock. They are broadly ordered by scale: challenges 1 and 2 deal with transmission within farms and herds; challenges. 3 and 4 deal with the need for data and methodological challenges involved in repurposing veterinary databases; challenges 5, 6 and 7 place livestock modelling within a wider context with the need for improved spatial models, unifying multiple scales of transmission and links with other species. Challenge 8 deals with the politics and economics of modelling livestock diseases
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
