Epidemiological information in sheep health management

Abstract

We use epidemiology whenever we consider the management of sheep health. To measure a disease, we need a precise and unique case definition and we often use diagnostic tests to assist in defining a disease. Diagnostic tests are not always accurate. Thus, it is necessary to consider the decisions that will be taken, based on the result of testing, in order to decide the most useful approach to interpret a test based on its test sensitivity and specificity and the prevalence of the disease in a flock. This is particularly important when decisions on culling or selection of sheep to attain, e.g. freedom from disease, are made on the basis of test results. Infectious diseases spread within and between flocks in a variety of ways; brought-in sheep are the most likely source for introduction of a new pathogen or strain of a pathogen. When a pathogen enters a naïve flock, it spreads through susceptible sheep and persists in the flock, whilst there are susceptible sheep that can be infected. Pathogens use a variety of techniques to persist, including changes in the pathogen itself, alterations in infected hosts enabling them to remain infectious for prolonged periods or to be re-infected, persistence in other host species or in the environment. We need to consider these strategies to decide whether elimination or control of a particular pathogen is more likely to be effective. Whatever the flock control strategy, treatment of diseased individuals is essential for their welfare and can also protect the rest of the flock, if treatment reduces the infectious period. Decisions on management of disease are based on our knowledge of the flock and its management and the evidence base for various control strategies. There are now formal techniques for evaluating the evidence base that can assist in evaluating evidence. One area where we need to evaluate evidence is on cause. It is not possible to prove anything, but we can use the weight of evidence to evaluate likely cause. There are nine aspects of association with which we can evaluate a piece of evidence; these are: strength, consistency, specificity, temporality, dose–response, plausibility, coherence, experiment and analogy.