Livestock Disease Control Research Articles

Importance of information and communication technology tools among livestock farmers: A review

Agricultural extension services in most of the developing countries including India are usually designed around crop husbandry, while public sector initiatives towards animal husbandry are often dominated by animal breeding and health services (Morton and Matthewman 1996).ICT has been used in abroad widely for the study and improvement of various aspects of livestock production, research and education. Mainly the ICT is playing a greater role in livestock disease control, dairy herd management, livestock production and for marketing of livestock and livestock produce.

Ethno veterinary practices for poultry and cattle in Zimbabwe: A case study of Takavarasha village

Ethno veterinary practices are increasingly becoming important in theprimary health care of livestock the world over. This is so especially for smallholderfarmers in developing countries where conventional veterinary drugs areexpensive, inaccessible and unaffordable. In this study, the traditionalpractices used in the control of livestock diseases in Chivi district ofMasvingo province in Zimbabwe were investigated. A semi-structured questionnaire wasadministered to 60 farmers sampled through a two stage process. Thequestionnaire sought information on common cattle and poultry ailments as wellas the respective ethno veterinary practices used to control them. Informationon methods used to prepare the medicines and the form in which it is administeredwas also collected. Eighty two percent of the farmers regarded ethno veterinarymedicines as very useful in the provision of primary healthcare for theanimals. A wide array of traditional remedies and their preparation methodswere documented. There was also evidence of a complementary link betweenconventional and traditional animal health practice. This shows that farmershave alternative ways of ensuring the safety of livestock which can be usedtogether with conventional methods to ensure livestock health.

Modelling the effectiveness of vaccination in controlling bovine tuberculosis in wild boar

Context Bovine tuberculosis is a persistent disease of livestock in many parts of the world, especially where wildlife hosts co-exist with livestock. In south-western Spain, despite the widespread implementation of test-and-cull strategies for cattle, the herd prevalence in areas with high wild boar densities remains stable. The control of M. bovis infection in wild boar is likely to be essential for effective disease control in livestock. Methods We developed an individual-based model to evaluate whether vaccinating wild boar piglets with oral bait would be an effective strategy to reduce the prevalence of M. bovis infection in wild boar populations. Specifically, we quantified the proportion of piglets requiring vaccination and the number of years the vaccination programme would need to continue to eradicate bTB from wild boar within 25 years, comparing ‘managed’ populations on hunting estates where supplementary food is provided, with ‘unmanaged’, free-living populations. Successful vaccination was defined as the proportion of piglets that were delivered the vaccine and were effectively protected from infection. Key results Longer-term (25-year) vaccination strategies were more successful than short-term (5-year) strategies at either eradicating M. bovis or reducing it to below 90% of its original prevalence. M. bovis infection could be eradicated under a 25-year vaccination strategy if 80% of piglets were vaccinated in a managed population or 70% of piglets were vaccinated in an unmanaged population. In contrast, 5-year strategies in which 80% of piglets were vaccinated reduced the prevalence of M. bovis only by 27% or 8% in the managed and unmanaged populations, respectively. Conclusions The results of our simulation model, coupled with the promising results of initial vaccine and oral bait-uptake trials in wild boar indicated that vaccination could be an effective strategy to reduce the prevalence of M. bovis infection in wild boar if used in conjunction with other disease-control measures. Implications The vaccination of piglets over a long-term period has the potential to make an important contribution to the eradication of M. bovis infection from wild boar reservoirs in southern Spain.

MFAN/RFID 생체 삽입형 센서 태그 기반 가축 이력 관리 시스템 개발

With the recent increased risk of livestock disease spread and human infection, livestock disease control has become very important. Consequently, there has been an increased attention on an implantable real-time monitoring and traceability system for individual cattle. Therefore, we have developed a robust monitoring and traceability system based on an implantable MFAN/RFID sensor tag. Our design combines the MFAN technology that is capable of robust wireless communication within cattle sheds and the 900MHz RFID technology that is capable of wireless communication without battery. In MFAN/RFID implantable sensor tag monitoring system, UHF sensor tag is implanted under the skin and accurately monitors the body temperature and biological changes without being affected by external environment. In order to acquire power needed by the tag, we install a MFAN/RFID tranceiver on the neck of cattle. The MFAN coordinator passes through the MFAN node and the RFID-reader-combined MFAN/RFID transceiver and transmits/receives the data and power for the sensor tag. The data stored in the MFAN coordinator is transmitted via the internet to the livestock history monitoring system, where it is stored and managed. By developing this system, we hope to alleviate the problems related to livestock disease control.

Survey of herbal remedies used by Fulani herdsmen in the management of animal diarrhoea in Plateau State, Nigeria

The Fulani herdsmen of Nigeria are known to use herbs for the treatment and control of different human and livestock diseases. This study was designed to identify and document the medicinal plants used by the Fulani herdsmen in Plateau State, Nigeria, in the management of animal diarrhoea, and to harness such plants for the purpose of drug development. Open-ended questionnaires and guided dialogue techniques were used to interview the Fulani pastoralists in nine Local Government Areas (LGAs) spread across the three senatorial districts of Plateau State. Seventy-nine plants were mentioned as being used for treatment and control of diarrhoea in animals. Fabaceae was the most common family mentioned followed by Combretaceae, Moraceae and Verbanaceae. The leaves were mentioned as the most common plant part used. Most anti-diarrhoeal preparations are administered by drenching while a few others are mixed with feed, salt or potash to improve palatability. The Fulani herdsmen have appreciable understanding of medicinal plants and could constitute a relevant source of information about herbal remedies. Plateau State has a large reserve of medicinal plants used for the management of diarrhoea in livestock; such plants are potential sources of novel anti-diarrhoeal medicaments. Key word: Animal diarrhoea, Fulani, herbs, Plateau State, Nigeria, survey.

Economic Rationale for Interventions to Control Livestock Disease Logique économique des interventions pour contrôler les maladies du bétail Wirtschaftliche Gründe für Eingriffe zur Kontrolle von Tierseuchen

summaryEconomic Rationale for Interventions to Control Livestock DiseaseDisease in farm animals has significant economic impacts on livestock production and incurs substantial costs for societies. Impacts affect not only livestock farms and the livestock industries but also sectors outside of farming. Important negative externalities of livestock disease include impacts on the health of other producers’ livestock, on human health, and on animal welfare. Good disease risk management/biosecurity and good animal welfare are public goods. Not taking account of these externality and public good aspects can lead to a misallocation of resources for livestock disease control. In such instances, there may be a strong case for government or other authority to intervene to ensure a better use of resources. There are a number of policy instruments that can be implemented for this purpose. One potential instrument is a Farm Animal Health and Welfare Stewardship Scheme funded under Pillar II of the CAP. A number of countries have public–private partnership cost‐sharing schemes that aim to share appropriately both responsibilities and costs of epidemic livestock disease. There is a strong future agenda for appropriate intervention by governments in the management of livestock disease risks, including responsibility and cost sharing for livestock disease control, within the European Union and elsewhere.

Diagnosis of Cattle Diseases Endemic to Sub-Saharan Africa: Evaluating a Low Cost Decision Support Tool in Use by Veterinary Personnel

BackgroundDiagnosis is key to control and prevention of livestock diseases. In areas of sub-Saharan Africa where private practitioners rarely replace Government veterinary services reduced in effectiveness by structural adjustment programmes, those who remain lack resources for diagnosis and might benefit from decision support.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe evaluated whether a low-cost diagnostic decision support tool would lead to changes in clinical diagnostic practice by fifteen veterinary and animal health officers undertaking primary animal healthcare in Uganda. The eight diseases covered by the tool included 98% of all bovine diagnoses made before or after its introduction. It may therefore inform proportional morbidity in the area; breed, age and geographic location effects were consistent with current epidemiological understanding. Trypanosomosis, theileriosis, anaplasmosis, and parasitic gastroenteritis were the most common conditions among 713 bovine clinical cases diagnosed prior to introduction of the tool. Thereafter, in 747 bovine clinical cases estimated proportional morbidity of fasciolosis doubled, while theileriosis and parasitic gastroenteritis were diagnosed less commonly and the average number of clinical signs increased from 3.5 to 4.9 per case, with 28% of cases reporting six or more signs compared to 3% beforehand. Anaemia/pallor, weakness and staring coat contributed most to this increase, approximately doubling in number and were recorded in over half of all cases. Finally, although lack of a gold standard hindered objective assessment of whether the tool improved the reliability of diagnosis, informative concordance and misclassification matrices yielded useful insights into its role in the diagnostic process.Conclusions/SignificanceThe diagnostic decision support tool covered the majority of diagnoses made before or after its introduction, leading to a significant increase in the number of clinical signs recorded, suggesting this as a key beneficial consequence of its use. It may also inform approximate proportional morbidity and represent a useful epidemiological tool in poorly resourced areas.

Farm Households' Preferences for Cash-based Compensation versus Livelihood-enhancing Programmes: A Choice Experiment to Inform Avian Flu (HPAI H5N1) Compensation Policy in Nigeria

In this paper, we attempt to bridge the resilience school of thought and incentive compatibility in livestock disease-control policies through a choice experiment study designed to estimate households' preferences for various compensation plan attributes. We define compensation plan broadly to include not just the traditional attributes, such as the number of days it takes to receive the payment and the compensation rate, but also more diverse interventions, such as training in biosecurity measures and access to bank loans, which are expected to have longer term livelihood impacts. The results reveal that, overall, study households preferred compensation plans that made payment in fewer days, provided facilitated credit access and offered biosecurity training, though there was considerable heterogeneity across households. Although agricultural compensation schemes across developing countries have been monetary-based, these results are indicative of the potential acceptability of alternative non-monetary compensations in rural areas. Copyright 2012 , Oxford University Press.

Livestock Helminths in a Changing Climate: Approaches and Restrictions to Meaningful Predictions.

Simple SummaryParasitic helminths represent one of the most pervasive challenges to livestock, and their intensity and distribution will be influenced by climate change. There is a need for long-term predictions to identify potential risks and highlight opportunities for control. We explore the approaches to modelling future helminth risk to livestock under climate change. One of the limitations to model creation is the lack of purpose driven data collection. We also conclude that models need to include a broad view of the livestock system to generate meaningful predictions.Climate change is a driving force for livestock parasite risk. This is especially true for helminths including the nematodes Haemonchus contortus, Teladorsagia circumcincta, Nematodirus battus, and the trematode Fasciola hepatica, since survival and development of free-living stages is chiefly affected by temperature and moisture. The paucity of long term predictions of helminth risk under climate change has driven us to explore optimal modelling approaches and identify current bottlenecks to generating meaningful predictions. We classify approaches as correlative or mechanistic, exploring their strengths and limitations. Climate is one aspect of a complex system and, at the farm level, husbandry has a dominant influence on helminth transmission. Continuing environmental change will necessitate the adoption of mitigation and adaptation strategies in husbandry. Long term predictive models need to have the architecture to incorporate these changes. Ultimately, an optimal modelling approach is likely to combine mechanistic processes and physiological thresholds with correlative bioclimatic modelling, incorporating changes in livestock husbandry and disease control. Irrespective of approach, the principal limitation to parasite predictions is the availability of active surveillance data and empirical data on physiological responses to climate variables. By combining improved empirical data and refined models with a broad view of the livestock system, robust projections of helminth risk can be developed.

Models to capture the potential for disease transmission in domestic sheep flocks

Successful control of livestock diseases requires an understanding of how they spread amongst animals and between premises. Mathematical models can offer important insight into the dynamics of disease, especially when built upon experimental and/or field data. Here the dynamics of a range of epidemiological models are explored in order to determine which models perform best in capturing real-world heterogeneities at sufficient resolution. Individual based network models are considered together with one- and two-class compartmental models, for which the final epidemic size is calculated as a function of the probability of disease transmission occurring during a given physical contact between two individuals. For numerical results the special cases of a viral disease with a fast recovery rate (foot-and-mouth disease) and a bacterial disease with a slow recovery rate (brucellosis) amongst sheep are considered. Quantitative results from observational studies of physical contact amongst domestic sheep are applied and results from the differently structured flocks (ewes with newborn lambs, ewes with nearly weaned lambs and ewes only) compared. These indicate that the breeding cycle leads to significant changes in the expected basic reproduction ratio of diseases. The observed heterogeneity of contacts amongst animals is best captured by full network simulations, although simple compartmental models describe the key features of an outbreak but, as expected, often overestimate the speed of an outbreak. Here the weights of contacts are heterogeneous, with many low weight links. However, due to the well-connected nature of the networks, this has little effect and differences between models remain small. These results indicate that simple compartmental models can be a useful tool for modelling real-world flocks; their applicability will be greater still for more homogeneously mixed livestock, which could be promoted by higher intensity farming practices.

The role of nuclear technologies in the diagnosis and control of livestock diseases—a review

Nuclear and nuclear-related technologies have played an important role in animal health, particularly in relation to disease diagnosis and characterization of pathogenic organisms. This review focuses primarily on how and where nuclear technologies, both non-isotopic and isotopic methods, have made their impact in the past and where it might be expected they could have an impact in the future. The review outlines the extensive use of radiation attenuation in attempts to create vaccines for a multiplicity of pathogenic organisms and how the technology is being re-examined in the light of recent advances in irradiation techniques and cryopreservation/lyophilization that might obviate some of the problems of maintenance of viable, attenuate vaccines and their transport and use in the field. This approach could be used for a number of parasitic diseases where vaccination has been problematic and where investigations into the development of molecular vaccines have still failed to deliver satisfactory candidates for generating protective immune responses. Irradiation of antigens or serum samples also has its uses in diagnosis, especially when the samples need to be transported across international boundaries, or when handling the pathogens in question when carrying out a test presents serious health hazards to laboratory personnel. The present-day extensive use of enzyme immunoassays and molecular methods (e.g., polymerase chain reaction) for diagnosis and characterization of animal pathogens has its origins in the use of isotope-labeled antigens and antibodies. These isotopic techniques that included the use of 75Se, 32P, 125I, and 35S isotopes enabled a level of sensitivity and specificity that was hitherto unrealized, and it is prescient to remind ourselves of just how successful these technologies were, in spite of their infrequent use nowadays. Finally, the review looks at the potential for stable isotope analysis for a variety of applications—in the tracking of animal migrations, where the migrant are potential carriers of transboundary animal diseases, and where it would be useful to determine the origins of the carrier, e.g., Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza and its dissemination by wild water fowl. Other applications could be in monitoring sequestered microbial culture (e.g., rinderpest virus) where in the case of accidental or deliberate release of infective culture it would be possible to identify the laboratory from which the isolate originated.

Seasonal variations in physical contact amongst domestic sheep and the implications for disease transmission

Contact networks can provide useful insights into animal behaviour and have the potential to quantify the spread of disease. Successful control of livestock diseases requires an understanding of how they spread amongst animals and between premises. Whilst movement records can provide valuable data on potential between-farm spread, the within-group dynamics of livestock are not well quantified; without this knowledge it is difficult to fully exploit knowledge about one-to-one transmission (such as insights gained from small scale experiments). Here the physical contact structure of domestic sheep (Ovis Aries) flocks is determined for different stages in the breeding cycle. Three observational studies were carried out on conventionally managed flocks, consisting of approximately thirty Dorset/cross sheep grazing a large paddock: a flock with young (newborn) lambs and their mothers; the flock when the lambs were older (nearly weaned); and a flock of ewes outside of the lambing season. Networks were constructed and key centrality measures calculated for all direct physical and proximal contacts. Proximity networks with conventional sheep flocks appear to be dense, but physical contacts have a more complex structure with strong variations determined by stages in the breeding cycle. There was a significant difference in the level of physical contact within those flocks with lambs and those without, and also as a result of the age of lambs. A clear reduction in between-ewe contact was observed amongst individuals with young, but there was an overall increase in connectivity in such flocks as a result of contacts involving lambs. Results are considered applicable to different sized flocks, given the known social behaviour of sheep and the experimental protocol used.

Veterinary Profession: Potential Tool for the Realization of Nigerian Vision 20-20-20

As several countries make effort towards meeting the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), developing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa including Nigeria are evolving policies and programme to address issues of sustainable development. The adoption of the framework of the MDGs, and its continents instrument: New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) has provided a platform for the articulation in Nigeria of the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS), which laid emphasis on reforming government and institutions, growing the private sector, implementing a social character and value reorientation. It has wealth creation, poverty reduction and employment generation as cardinal areas of emphasis. However, the seven point agenda of the previous administration of Alhaji Umar Yaradua, who declared her intention to pursue the vision of placing Nigeria among the 20 largest economies in the world by 2020 and the current leadership of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is committed to the attainment of this vision through its transformation agenda. This comprehensive frame-work focuses on sustainable growth in the real sector of the economy, which seeks to facilitate improvement in physical infrastructure, power and energy, transportation, agriculture, capital development, education, health, security, rule of law, combating corruption and tackling the Niger Delta problems. Therefore, it is imperative that veterinarians who are very important professionals are properly positioned and adequately prepared to live up to high expectations in the area of food security, control of livestock diseases, integrated disease surveillance and response. This paper seeks to highlight the role of veterinary profession in the attainment of MDGs, as well as challenges and prospective ways through which veterinarians could contribute to the achievement of Nigeria vision 2020. KEY WORDS : Nigerian, Veterinarians, Millennium Development Goals, Empowerment, Food security.

Endemic disease control and regulation in Australia 1901-2010

At Federation in 1901, Australia retained separate State veterinary services responsible for the control of endemic animal diseases. By 2010 the Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments and the livestock industries had coordinated a structure with supporting activities and shared finances that provides Australia's veterinary services and its livestock industries with preparedness and control programs for nominated exotic and endemic animal diseases. Animal Health Australia operates as the coordinating body for these programs. Since 1901, contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, bovine brucellosis and bovine tuberculosis have been eradicated, providing considerable industry benefits. While the entry of exotic diseases has been restricted, tick fevers, tick infestation, bluetongue infection, avirulent and velogenic Newcastle disease, Hendra virus, lyssavirus infection and Menagle virus infection have arisen from either hosts within Australia or from insect incursion from neighbouring countries. The control of endemic livestock diseases has been accompanied by the development of veterinary laboratory services by the Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments. The Australian Animal Health Laboratory operating since 1985 in Geelong has ensured Australia remains at the forefront of technological advances in veterinary diagnostic techniques. From the 1970s animal welfare has become an important component of national initiatives that remain focussed on satisfying community and international expectations.

New Regulations and Sustainable Solutions Removal of by-Products of Slaughtered Livestock

The environment is now threatened by the creation and accumulation of waste materials in all branches of industrial production and in the meat industry. The importance of harmless removal of animal waste increases with the intensification of animal breeding and with the development of meat processing plants.. Problem solution of harmless removal of animal origin waste products has the big importance. It is irreplaceable, namely preventive veterinary and sanitary measure used in control of livestock diseases and zoonosis. Nowadays, it has a big role in environment protection. In the world, the best way of harmless removal of animal waste from meat industry as well as died animals is exactly their collecting and utilization (for feed production, chemical industry and fuel), depending on raw material structure and its characterization, their processing in special plants with modern equipment and technology.It was emphasized that objects for animal waste processing should be treated from the two aspects: as processing plants serving for the environment protection and as possible environment polluters.

Predicting the status of wild deer as hosts of Mycobacterium bovis infection in Britain

Control of livestock diseases can become complicated when wild animals are involved. The Eurasian badger (Meles meles) is considered the principle wildlife host of Mycobacterium bovis (which causes bovine tuberculosis, bTB) in Great Britain and Ireland, but wild deer have also been implicated. Whether wild deer are likely to perpetuate bTB in cattle depends on the exposure risks they pose, the mode of pathogen transmission, the distances over which the disease can be transported and whether they can maintain infection within their own populations independently of other sources. We evaluated the likely host status of each of four species of wild British deer (red, roe, fallow and Reeves' muntjac) and the badger across a range of densities typically observed in Britain by manipulating the reproductive number equation proposed by Anderson and May (1991). We estimate that roe deer almost certainly act as spillover hosts at densities lower than 30 km−2, red deer below 16 km−2, muntjac below 6 km−2, fallow below 4 km−2 and the badger below 2 km−2. We also estimate that muntjac will almost certainly act as maintenance hosts at densities above 56 km−2, fallow above 47 km−2 and badgers above 24 km−2. For densities between these values, we cannot be certain of the host status of these species, and for red and roe deer we cannot be certain of host status under most natural conditions typically experienced in parts of Britain experiencing high incidence of bTB in cattle. However, enhanced transmission rates resulting from artificially high densities such as might be experienced at supplementary feeding sites may be sufficient to promote independent maintenance of infection. We were not able to confidently assign host status to any species over a wide range of densities, but conclude that this is likely to reflect reality, where host status may be affected as much by, for example, demographic fluctuations as it is by population density. Our results imply densities below which populations of wild deer inhabiting cattle bTB hotspots ought to be maintained in order to control the possibility of them perpetuating the cycle of intra- and interspecific M. bovis transmission.

Review of "Healing the Herds: Disease, Livestock Economies, and the Globalization of Veterinary Medicine" edited by Karen Brown and Daniel Gilfoyle

Review Through a series of 14 case studies, this multi-authored book examines the history of veterinary medicine and, particularly, the emergence of veterinary services and disease control programs in relation to livestock trade. For the case studies covering China, Australia, and New Zealand, and selected countries in South East Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean, the focus is the colonial era up to the early 1960s or earlier. The case studies often show how advances in veterinary science from the late nineteenth century and technologies such as vaccines enabled large-scale disease control or eradication programs. For countries experiencing these programs for the first time, however, the book proposes that the primary objectives were related to colonial expansion and aims such as the protection of livestock on colonial farms, export trade and, at times, to support the appropriation of land. Only three of the case studies in the book deal with veterinary-related topics in pastoralist areas in Australia and Kenya (two chapters). David Anderson’s chapter on livestock marketing and colonial ambitions, between 1918 and 1948, clearly lays out the broader economic context within which livestock disease control programs were designed and implemented at that time. This chapter also presents a good overview of debates around overstocking and compulsory and voluntary destocking. The chapter by Lotte Hughes describes the forced displacement of Maasai communities from land that was thought to have a lower risk of East Coast fever and therefore was the preferred land for settler cattle. The common theme in these three chapters is the tension between the differing priorities of local herd owners, and those of governments and state veterinary services, and the imposition of disease control strategies often by force. A fourth chapter by Saverio Kratli deals with the history of cattle Catley Pastoralism: Research, Policy and Practice 2011, 1:12 http://www.pastoralismjournal.com/content/1/1/12

Questionnaire survey on urban and peri-urban livestock farming practices and disease control in Kisumu municipality, Kenya

To characterise the urban livestock keeping practices and constraints in Kisumu municipality, Kenya, a questionnaire survey was carried out. Thirty-four contact farmers were interviewed on general farm characteristics and production constraints. The farming activities were categorised as either livestock only (41%), or mixed crops and livestock (59%). The surveyed farmers kept mainly cattle (100%), chickens (82%) and goats (74%). Most (94%) of the farmers had kept livestock for prolonged periods mainly for income generation (97%) and domestic consumption (59%). These data show that livestock keeping was popular and could be harnessed to increase food security, although the farmers kept mainly low-producing indigenous cattle (98%) which were grazed on unutilised land. The main production constraints mentioned by farmers included diseases (100%), poor fertility (68%) and lack of feed (56%). The diseases varied with species of ruminants and included lumpy skin disease (71%), diarrhoea (65%) and helminthosis (62%). The source of advice on management and treatment of the livestock was almost equally from private and government veterinary personnel. To improve livestock productivity, it is recommended that key stakeholders address the constraints mentioned in this study and in particular that the occurrence of diseases should be investigated with a view to developing sustainable control strategies.

Embryo vaccination using novel adjuvant formulation and Eimeria profilin-induced protective immunity against E. maxima infection (43.4)

Abstract Due to increasing concerns on the use of antibiotics in animal production system, development of alternative strategies for disease control in livestock and poultry is becoming important. Avian coccidiosis is caused by several distinct species of Eimeria which undergo intracellular development in different parts of gut reducing significant nutrient absorption. Our previous studies have shown significant protection against coccidiosis using recombinant Eimeria vaccines in laboratory models. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of immunizing 18-day-old embryos with Eimeria profilin protein in novel adjuvant formulation which is composed of Quil A, cholesterol, DDA, and carbopol (QCDC). Chickens which were immunized in ovo with Eimeria profilin/QCDC vaccine produced significantly higher antibody and cytokine responses, and showed better protection against live challenge infection with E. maxima compared to the control chickens which were immunized with Eimeria profilin protein alone. This study demonstrates the first immunological evidence to show immunoenhancing role of QCDC in poultry.

The impacts of livestock diseases and their control on growth and development processes that are pro-poor.

Poverty is now at the heart of development discourse; we discuss how it is measured and understood. We next consider the negative and positive impacts of livestock on pro-poor development. Taking a value-chain approach that includes keepers, users and eaters of livestock, we identify diseases that are road blocks on the 'three livestock pathways out of poverty'. We discuss livestock impacts on poverty reduction and review attempts to prioritize the livestock diseases relevant to the poor. We make suggestions for metrics that better measure disease impact and show the benefits of more rigorous evaluation before reviewing recent attempts to measure the importance of disease to the poor. High impact of a disease does not guarantee high benefits from its control; other factors must be taken into consideration, including technical feasibility and political desirability. We conclude by considering how we might better understand and exploit the roles of livestock and improved animal health by posing three speculative questions on the impact of livestock diseases and their control on global poverty: how can understanding livestock and poverty links help disease control?; if global poverty reduction was the aim of livestock disease control, how would it differ from the current model?; and how much of the impact of livestock disease on poverty is due to disease control policy rather than disease itself?