Objective Densely populated livestock areas have developed because they have considerable economic advantages. Their development give rise, however, to an increased risk for the introduction and further spread of notifiable animal diseases. Epidemics in recent years (e.g. Classical Swine Fever) have proved to be difficult and expensive to control. The cost of dealing with these problems is placing increasingly heavy financial burdens on the commercial and public sector. The main objective of the project is to develop methods to identify these densely populated livestock areas and to develop and test tools that are necessary to reduce the risk and help solving the problems in such areas. The project intends to support policy making by providing a quantitative insight into the following four key questions: 1. What areas of the Community are densely populated livestock areas? 2. What are the risk factors for the introduction of notifiable diseases into these areas? 3. What are the risk factors for further spread of notifiable diseases in these areas? 4. What specific prevention and control strategies for notifiable diseases are possible and what are the costs and benefits? These questions have been raised and discussed in a Commission workshop and by the Scientific Veterinary Committee (SVC) recently. Several participants of the underlying project proposal took part in these discussions, and the proposed project coordinator was the principal organiser of the workshop and also chaired the special sub-group setup by the SVC. It is the intention to work along the lines set by these activities, by working out four tasks: Task A: Development and standardization of data and methods to identify densely populated livestock areas; Task B: Quantification and classification of the riskiness of such areas from a disease point of view; Task C: Analysis of actual disease outbreaks to test and redefine the riskiness parameters; Task D: Cost-benefit analysis of disease prevention and control strategies in such areas. Scientists from five EU member states (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands) will cooperate in the project. All members have been working in the research field in question for several years. The most important technical deliverables (free available to all member states) from the project are: - A computerized toolbox for the identification and analysis of densely populated livestock areas; - A method to rank densely populated livestock areas according to their riskiness; - An integrated modelling approach for the evaluation of prevention and control strategies of notifiable diseases in densely populated livestock areas. The completion of the project should make it possible to identify areas in the EU which are characterized by a very high risk with respect to the introduction and further spread of major animal diseases. The results should enable the EU to stimulate measures that reduce the risk and to decide what means should be used in particular areas to reduce the cost of an outbreak. Reduced risk and better control strategies will help to make measures redundant that are very costly and no longer accepted by the public, such as the stamping out of a large number of herds which do not show any signs of an infection. Fields of science agricultural sciencesanimal and dairy sciencedomestic animalsanimal husbandry Programme(s) FP4-FAIR - Specific research, technological development and demonstration programme in the field of agriculture and fisheries (including agro-industry, food technologies, forestry, aquaculture and rural development), 1994-1998 Topic(s) 4.4.2 - Animal health Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme CSC - Cost-sharing contracts Coordinator WAGENINGEN AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY EU contribution No data Address Hollandseweg 1 6706 WAGENINGEN Netherlands See on map Total cost No data Participants (7) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all Centre National d'Études Vétérinaires et Alimentaires (CNEVA) France EU contribution No data Address 22 rue Pierre Curie 94703 Maisons Alfort See on map Total cost No data ISTITUTO ZOOPROFILATTICO SPERIMENTALE DELLE VENEZIE Italy EU contribution No data Address Via Romea 14a 35020 LEGNARO (PADOVA) See on map Total cost No data KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN Belgium EU contribution No data Address Kard. Mercierlaan 92 3001 HEVERLEE See on map Total cost No data MINISTERIE VAN MIDDENSTAND EN LANDBOUW Belgium EU contribution No data Address Maria-theresiastraat 1 1000 BRUSSEL See on map Total cost No data UNIVERSITA DI BOLOGNA Italy EU contribution No data Address Via Tolara Di Sopra 50 40064 BOLOGNA OZZANO EMILIA See on map Total cost No data UNIVERSITEIT GENT Belgium EU contribution No data Address Salisburylaan 133 9820 MERELBEKE See on map Total cost No data UNIVERSITY OF VECHTA (UNIVERSITY OF THEBUNDESLAND LOWER SAXONY) Germany EU contribution No data Address Driverstrasse 22 49377 VECHTA See on map Total cost No data
