Is there any change in the prevalence of intestinal or cardiopulmonary parasite infections in companion animals (dogs and cats) in Germany between 2004-2006 and 2015-2017? An assessment of the impact of the first ESCCAP guidelines.

Main objective of the present nationwide study was to assess the impact of the ESCCAP guideline for the control of worm infections in dogs and cats 8-10 years after its first publication in Germany. A secondary aim was to determine the prevalence of canine and feline cardiopulmonary nematodes and intestinal protozoa. Faecal samples of 53,693 dogs and 26,491 cats in 2004-2006 as well as of 129,578 dogs and 45,709 cats in 2015-2017 routinely submitted by veterinarians to a private veterinary laboratory were examined using appropriate parasitological methods. In dogs, the prevalence of Toxocara and taeniid egg shedding was significantly lower in 2015-2017 (3.8 % and 0.16 %, respectively) than in 2004-2006 (4.6 % and 0.27 %, respectively). The prevalence of hookworm and Capillaria eggs was higher in the second study period (2.3 % and 0.77 %, respectively) than in the first (1.3 % and 0.6 %, respectively). For Toxascaris leonina (0.55-0.6 %) and Trichuris (0.8-0.9 %), the difference was not significant between the study periods. Dogs shed more often Angiostrongylus vasorum larvae in the second study (3.1 %) than in the first (1.0 %), whereas the prevalence of Crenosoma vulpis did not change significantly (2.2-2.6 %). Cystoisospora canis and C. ohioensis-like infections were less detected in the second study period (1.0 % and 2.1 %, respectively) than in the first (1.8 % and 2.7 %, respectively). Neospora-like oocysts and Sarcocystis sporocysts were more prevalent in the second study period (0.19 % and 0.13 %, respectively) than in the first (0.13 % and 0.06 %, respectively). The percentage of Giardia or Cryptosporidium coproantigen-positive samples was lower in the second study period (18.9 % and 6.7 %, respectively) than in the first (22.8 % and 10.0 %, respectively). In cats, the prevalence of egg shedding of T. cati, Capillaria and taeniids was significantly lower in 2015-2017 (3.5 %, 0.25 % and 0.1 %, respectively) than in 2004-2006 (4.8 %, 0.54 % and 0.22 %, respectively). No difference was recorded for hookworms (0.12-0.13 %) and Ts. leonina (0.04-0.05 %). Aelurostrongylus-like larvae were detected more often in the second study period (6.5 %) than in the first (2.6 %). Infections with Cystoisospora felis, C. rivolta, Toxoplasma-like coccids and Sarcocystis were less prevalent in the second study period (1.9 %, 0.7 %, 0.24 % and 0.02 %, respectively) than in the first (2.7 %, 1.1 %, 0.36 % and 0.1 %, respectively). The percentage of Giardia or Cryptosporidium coproantigen-positive samples was significantly lower in the second study period (10.6 % and 4.8 %, respectively) than in the first (15.4 % and 8.3 %, respectively). Although these results indicate a decline of the occurrence of most canine and feline intestinal parasites in Germany over the years, a transmission risk of zoonotic parasites remains. Therefore, the control of helminth infections in domestic dogs and cats continues to be a challenge for veterinarians and pet owners.

The future of cattle veterinary practice: insights from a qualitative study.

The British livestock sector is constantly changing due to environmental and economic pressures, consequentially causing a shift in demand on farm veterinary services. The aim of this study was to explore the future of cattle veterinary practice, using a qualitative approach. Telephone interviews were organised with key opinion leaders within the cattle farm and veterinary sectors to discuss their opinions on the future of the profession. The interviews were recorded and transcribed, and thematic analysis was used to interpret the data. The analysis of these interviews resulted in the development of six key themes that emerged as being important in the future of cattle veterinary practice; veterinary business structure, veterinary practice income, collaboration, the changing role of the cattle vet, the vet-farmer relationship and the new generation of cattle vets. The study identified that the role of the cattle veterinary practitioner in the UK is changing with an increasing focus on data handling, people management and training and advisory skills. It is important that these findings are accounted for in the development of undergraduate and postgraduate veterinary training.

Improving the delivery of veterinary services in Africa: insights from the empirical application of transaction costs theory in Uganda and Kenya.

This paper presents a summary of findings from a research project that examined institutional arrangements for providing animal health services in Uganda and Kenya. Given the need to find solutions to the pervasive governance challenges encountered in the delivery of veterinary services in Africa, the study applied transaction economics theory to generate recommendations on how to improve the delivery of these services and minimise livestock production risks, including those that pose a risk to human health, e.g. zoonoses. The most notable recommendations are as follows: i) lower- and middle-income countries should invest in creating an enabling environment that supports the relationship between professional veterinarians and para-professionals, to ensure the timely reporting, treatment and control of animal diseases; ii) the provision of veterinary extension services should not focus solely on household 'heads', but also on other household members, such as wives and children, and on herdsmen; iii) strong government engagement is required in the provision of veterinary services for pastoral or extensive livestock production systems, because normal market forces have failed to attract professional veterinarians and trained para-professionals from the private sector to work in these sectors; iv) farmers must be empowered to hold service providers accountable, by the development and trialling of tools that would enable them to measure the quality of services that they receive and to verify the qualifications of different service providers; v) investment in veterinary education is vital, to ensure that enough qualified veterinary staff are available to offer veterinary services to farmers.

L'auteur propose une synthèse des principales conclusions d'un projet de recherche consacré aux dispositifs institutionnels élaborés en Ouganda et au Kenya pour encadrer la prestation des services de santé animale. Face à la nécessité de trouver des solutions aux graves difficultés de gouvernance qui entravent la prestation de services vétérinaires en Afrique, cette étude s'est fondée sur la théorie des transactions économiques pour formuler quelques recommandations sur les moyens d'améliorer la prestation de ces services et de minimiser les risques affectant la production animale, y compris ceux qui peuvent menacer la santé publique, à savoir les zoonoses. Les principales recommandations de l'étude sont les suivantes : i) les pays à faible revenu et à revenu intermédiaire devraient s'investir dans la création d'un environnement propice à la coopération entre les vétérinaires professionnels et les para-professionnels vétérinaires, afin d'assurer la notification rapide, le traitement et la prophylaxie des maladies animales ; ii) les prestations de services vétérinaires de proximité ne doivent pas se limiter aux seuls « chefs de famille ¼ mais s'adresser également aux autres membres des foyers (les épouses et les enfants) ainsi qu'aux gardiens des troupeaux; iii) une mobilisation forte des pouvoirs publics est nécessaire pour assurer la prestation de services vétérinaires au sein des systèmes d'élevage pastoral ou extensif, dans la mesure où les forces spontanées du marché ont échoué à attirer les vétérinaires libéraux et les para-professionnels qualifiés du secteur privé dans ces territoires ; iv) les éleveurs doivent disposer des moyens de demander des comptes aux prestataires de services, ce qui suppose de concevoir et de tester des outils leur permettant d'évaluer la qualité des services rendus et de vérifier les qualifications des différents prestataires de services ; v) l'investissement dans l'enseignement de la médecine vétérinaire est d'une importance capitale pour garantir que les effectifs des personnels vétérinaires qualifiés sont suffisants pour assurer une prestation de services adéquate aux éleveurs.

El autor resume las conclusiones de un proyecto de investigación en el que se estudiaron los dispositivos institucionales destinados a prestar servicios zoosanitarios en Uganda y Kenia. Dada la necesidad de encontrar soluciones para los omnipresentes problemas de buen gobierno que lastran la prestación de servicios veterinarios en África, en el estudio se aplicó la teoría de la economía de transacción para formular una serie de recomendaciones sobre la manera de mejorar la prestación de dichos servicios y reducir al mínimo los riesgos para la producción ganadera, en particular aquellos que entrañen una amenaza para la salud humana, como las zoonosis. Las recomendaciones más destacadas son las siguientes: i) los países de nivel bajo o medio de renta deben invertir en la creación de condiciones que favorezcan la relación entre los veterinarios profesionales y los paraprofesionales, con objeto de lograr una mayor puntualidad en la notificación, el tratamiento y el control de las enfermedades animales; ii) la prestación de servicios de divulgación veterinaria no debe ir dirigida únicamente a los «cabezas de familia¼, sino también a los demás miembros de la unidad familiar (esposa e hijos, por ejemplo) y a los encargados de cuidar de los rebaños; iii) en sistemas de producción ganadera pastoral o extensiva la prestación de servicios veterinarios exige una fuerte participación del sector público, puesto que los mecanismos de mercado no han servido para atraer a veterinarios profesionales y a paraprofesionales cualificados del sector privado para que trabajen en esos sectores; iv) es preciso habilitar a los pequeños productores para que sean exigentes con los proveedores de servicios, elaborando y aplicando experimentalmente herramientas que los capaciten para enjuiciar la calidad de los servicios que reciben y comprobar las cualificaciones de los distintos proveedores de servicios; v) es esencial invertir en la enseñanza de la veterinaria a fin de lograr que haya una dotación suficiente de veterinarios cualificados para ofrecer servicios veterinarios a los productores.

Improving the use of economics in animal health - Challenges in research, policy and education.

The way that an economist and an animal health professional use economics differs and creates frustrations. The economist is in search of optimizing resource allocation in the management of animal health and disease problems with metrics associated with the productivity of key societal resources of labour and capital. The animal health professional have a strong belief that productivity can be improved with the removal of pathogens. These differences restrict how well economics is used in animal health, and the question posed is whether this matters. The paper explores the question by looking at the changing role of animals in society and the associated change of the animal health professional's activities. It then questions if the current allocation of scarce resources for animal health are adequately allocated for societies and whether currently available data are sufficient for good allocation. A rapid review of the data on disease impacts - production losses and costs of human reaction - indicate that the data are sparse collected in different times and geographical regions. This limits what can be understood on the productivity of the economic resources used for animal health and this needs to be addressed with more systematic collection of data on disease losses and costs of animal health systems. Ideally such a process should learn lessons from the way that human health has made estimates of the burden of diseases and their capture of data on the costs of human health systems. Once available data on the global burden of animal diseases and the costs of animal health systems would allow assessments of individual disease management processes and the productivity of wider productivity change. This utopia should be aimed at if animal health is to continue to attract and maintain adequate resources.

SERVAL: a new framework for the evaluation of animal health surveillance.

Animal health surveillance programmes may change in response to altering requirements or perceived weaknesses but are seldom subjected to any formal evaluation to ensure that they provide valuable information in an efficient manner. The literature on the evaluation of animal health surveillance systems is sparse, and those that are published may be unstructured and therefore incomplete. To address this gap, we have developed SERVAL, a SuRveillance EVALuation framework, which is novel and aims to be generic and therefore suitable for the evaluation of any animal health surveillance system. The inclusion of socio-economic criteria ensures that economic evaluation is an integral part of this framework. SERVAL was developed with input from a technical workshop of international experts followed by a consultation process involving providers and users of surveillance and evaluation data. It has been applied to a range of case studies encompassing different surveillance and evaluation objectives. Here, we describe the development, structure and application of the SERVAL framework. We discuss users' experiences in applying SERVAL to evaluate animal health surveillance systems in Great Britain.

Veterinary public health in India: current status and future needs.

Veterinary public health (VPH) assumes huge significance in developing countries such as India. However, the implementation of VPH services throughout the country is still in its infancy. From 1970 onwards, many institutes, national and international organisations, professional societies, policies and personalities have contributed towards the development of VPH in India. Nevertheless, there is an urgent need to develop VPH still further as there are many issues, such as high population density, the re-emergence of zoonotic pathogens, environmental pollution and antimicrobial resistance, that require attention. The time has surely come to involve all stakeholders, ranging from primary producers (e.g., farmers) to policy-makers, so as to garner support for the holistic implementation of VPH services in India. To improve VPH activities and services, science-based policies enforced through stringent regulation are required to improve human, animal and environmental health. The emergence of the 'One Health' concept has ushered in new hopes for the resurrection of VPH in India. Applying tools such as the World Organisation for Animal Health (OlE) Day One Competencies and the OlE Tool for the Evaluation of Performance of Veterinary Services (PVS Tool) is essential to improve the quality of national Veterinary Services and to identify gaps and weaknesses in service provision, which can be remedied to comply with the OlE international standards. VPH initiatives started modestly but they continue to grow. The present review is focused on the current status and future needs of VPH in India.