Animal disease management

OIE Aquatic Animal Health Code Guidelines covering aquatic animal disease management, http //www.oie.int/international-standard-setting/aquatic-code/access-online/, http //www.oie.int/fileadmin/Home/ eng/Support to OIE Members/docs/pdf/Good vet govemance.pdf... 

Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) sets standards for food safety and inspects meat, poultry, and egg products produced domestically and imported. The Service inspects animals and birds at slaughter and processed products at various stages of the production process, and analyzes products for microbiological and chemical adulterants. FSIS also informs the public about meat, poultry, and egg product food safety issues. FSIS works with the Research, Education and Economics mission area on food safety research issues and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service on instances where animal diseases impact food safety. FSIS also facilitates the management of US activities pertaining to the Codex Alimentarius Commission, an international organization created by the United Nations, to promote the health and economic interests of consumers while encouraging fair international trade in food. 

Farm animals being managed under intensive systems are very susceptible to disease outbreaks since they are usually of the same age, often very immature, and are in constant contact with their feces. Epidemiological studies have shown that the introduction of a highly infectious disease into a large population of animals kept in the same pen will ultimately result in a large proportion of these animals becoming infected (9). The reasonable therapeutic approach to this prob-... 

Supports the DHS incident management mission by leading the effort to control and eradicate an outbreak of a highly contagious or an economically devastating animal disease. 

Preventive and Cosmetic Treatment. Veterinarians also perform procedures and prescribe medicines to prevent the occurrence of disease and illness, to make animals more manageable, to... 

Essentially, aquatic animal disease surveillance provides scientifically accurate, cost-effective, information for assessing and managing risks of disease transfer associated with trade (intra and international) (FAO, 2004). This approach towards management and control therefore helps to prevent the spread of diseases through the proactive identification of outbreaks, as well as providing baseline prevalence data and other important information in support of risk assessments. 

Prevention is in the first line of disease management, and the development and implementation of biosecurity strategies for fish diseases is exercised at national level and is embodied in the codes of practice of several international organisations such as the EU 2006 Directive and the OIE code of practice. Oidtmann et al. (2011) provide an overview of international and national biosecurity strategies in aquatic animal health. Preventative measures on the whole require more risk analysis and closer adherence than they currently enjoy so that they may become a higher priority. Unfortunately, the preventative measures most closely adhered to tend to be largely those most closely regulated. Some of these preventative measures as out-fined below are subjected to intensive research and are dealt with elsewhere in this book. 

The regulation also stipulates that a maximum of three courses of treatment with chemically synthesised allopathic veterinary medical products or antibiotics within one year (or no more than one course of treatment if the productive life cycle is less than one year) is acceptable. These regulations are designed to encourage the use of preventive management and alternative treatments for the control of parasites and diseases. Vaccinations, veterinary medicine treatments for parasites and any compulsory eradication schemes established by Member States are exempt from the treatment maximums, in order to ensure animal welfare. 

The significance of the exposure levels shown on the tables and figures may differ depending on the user s perspective. For example, physicians concerned with the interpretation of clinical findings in exposed persons or with the identification of persons with the potential to develop such disease may be interested in levels of exposure associated with "serious" effects. Public health officials and project managers concerned with response actions at Superfund sites may want information on levels of exposure associated with more subtle effects in humans or animals (LOAELs) or exposure levels below which no adverse effects (NOAELs) have been observed. Estimates of levels posing minimal risk to humans (Minimal Risk Levels, MRLs) are of interest to health professionals and citizens alike. 

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