modern animal health management systems and biosensors in animal disease surveillance.

1. Advances in Animal Health Management
System and Use of Epidemiological Tool
in Disease Monitoring and Control
By
Dr. Sharadindu Shil
Veterinary Officer
ABAHC, Ratanpur
Govt. of West Bengal

2. Defining the importance of diseases
 The International Office for Epizootics (OIE) has classified animal diseases
into two “lists” - List A and List B-
“Transmissible diseases which have the
potential for very serious and rapid
spread, irrespective of national borders,
which are of serious socio-economic or
public health consequence and which
are of major importance in the
international trade of animals and
animal products”.
List B Diseases

3. Emergency Prevention Systems for transboundary
diseases of animals and diseases and pests of plants
(EMPRES)
 Transboundary animal diseases has been classified into three flexible categories.
These are:
 Epidemic diseases of strategic importance- Rinderpest, Foot-and-mouth disease
and Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) - these are accorded top priority
by EMPRES at the global level. However, regions or countries can have a country-
/region-specific set of strategic diseases, as well.
 Diseases requiring tactical attention at the international/regional level- Rift
valley fever, lumpy skin disease, Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR), Newcastle
disease, African swine fever (ASF) and classical swine fever.
 Emerging or evolving diseases- BSE, porcine reproductive and respiratory
syndrome (PRRS).

4. What is Surveillance and Monitoring
 All regular activities aimed at ascertaining the health status of a given
population with the aim of early detection and control of animal diseases of
importance to national economies, food security and trade- Surveillance.
 All activities aimed at detecting changes in the epidemiological parameters
of a specified disease- Monitoring.

5. The Need & Utility of Surveillance
 Surveillance has as its main purpose, early detection of disease.
 The sooner a disease is found, the better.
 It is much easier to tackle a disease problem in a small corner of a country with a
small animal population.
 Monitoring the spread of a disease in order to manage it effectively.
 Knowing disease spreading speed & directions & size of the populations
threatened.
 How much vaccine to purchase, how many staff to deploy and where they should
be deployed, the length of the cold chain that will be involved, and so on.
 Good surveillance will give a good idea of where to vaccinate and how many doses
of vaccine required when disease is absent.
 Monitoring of progress in control and eradication programmes.
 It becomes necessary to prove the absence of a disease rather than to detect its
presence during eradication phases.

6. Surveillance Programme Should Satisfy
The Following
 It must be sensitive to detect true health-related events.
 It must be specific to minimise the false identification of a health-related
event.
 It must be representative of all the health-related occurrences.
 It must provide information within a reasonable time to enable valid
analysis of data.
 The system should be simple and easily understood and not create a
burden on participants.
 The system must be flexible to adapt easily to new reporting needs in
response to changes in health-related events.
 It must be acceptable to those persons conducting surveillance and those
providing data.
 The system must be relevant and applicable to current needs and problems.

7. Passive Disease Surveillance
 Passive disease surveillance is the routine gathering of information on
disease incidents from sources.
 It is important that passive surveillance systems be strengthened and that
the disease information they yield be effectively captured and analysed.
 However, it should be recognized that complete reliance on passive
surveillance usually leads to significant underreporting of diseases.
 It is essential that passive surveillance be supplemented by a strong system
of active disease surveillance, particularly for emergency animal diseases.

8. Active Disease Surveillance
 Purposeful and comprehensive searching for evidence of disease.
 Catch-all in nature to detect any significant disease occurrences, designed
to monitor the progress of individual disease control or eradication
campaigns.
 The components of successful active disease surveillance programmes:
 Close integration between the activities of field and laboratory veterinary
services.
 Regular visits to farming communities for farmer interviews about diseases,
animal health advice, clinical examination, post-mortem examinations and
collection of diagnostic specimens.
 Emphasis should be given to critical areas identified by disease risk
analyses and other epidemiological assessments.
 Participatory rural appraisal programmes.
 Utilization of disease information from all potential sources in the public
and private sector.
 Periodic targeted serological surveys in animal populations specially in
livestock markets, livestock trading routes, border areas.

9. Participatory Appraisal: what does it mean?
 An important feature of participatory appraisal methods is that researchers
have at their disposal a 'toolkit' of interviewing, diagramming, ranking,
scoring and other methods in order to encourage informants to describe
their knowledge and understanding of the issues under investigation.

10. Emergency Disease Reporting And
Information Systems
 Special emergency disease reporting mechanisms is essential.
 Epidemiological information to be transmitted to national veterinary headquarters
preferably on the same day by telephone, facsimile, e-mail, radio, or courier.
 Necessary communications equipment to Local and regional veterinary offices and
field and laboratory staff.
 In the case of an emergency report on a disease outbreak or incident, the basic
information that needs to be conveyed is:
 The disease suspected & the exact geographical location of the disease outbreak(s).
 The names and addresses of affected farms or villages & livestock species affected.
 Approximate numbers of sick and dead animals & brief description of clinical signs
and lesions observed.
 Date(s) when the disease was first noticed at the initial outbreak site and any
subsequent sites.
 Details of any recent movements of susceptible animals to or from the outbreak
farm or village.
 Disease in wild or feral animals and abnormal insect activity & any initial disease
control actions taken.

11. Emergency Disease Information System
 Two-way flow of computerized information between national and regional
veterinary offices.
 The information should be limited to the essentials for the planning,
implementation and monitoring of disease control campaigns and for international
reporting.
 The type of information in case of international reporting:-
 Results of field abattoir and market clinical and serological surveillance.
 Exact geographical locations of infected farms or villages, with essential
epidemiological data and disease control actions taken.
 Results of laboratory investigations, collated with the above.
 Locations of quarantined areas and infected or surveillance zones, including data on
susceptible livestock locations.
 Priority lists of farms and localities for future surveillance and for vaccination
programmes.
 Data related to the implementation and progress of vaccination campaigns.
 Disposition and availability of essential human and physical resources such as
vaccines, diagnostic kits, vehicles, disinfectants, etc.

12. Approaches To Detect Clinical Emerging
Issues
 The first approach, Syndromic Surveillance:- monitors disease trends by
grouping clinical diseases into syndromes on the basis of clinical features
rather than specific diagnoses.
 The second approach focuses on detecting individual atypical cases. Based
on how previous emerging diseases have been detected.
 Subsequent approaches-3 prototype information systems
 The Veterinary Practitioner Aided Disease Surveillance System (VetPAD).
 The Rapid Syndrome Validation Project—Animal (RSVP-A, USA).
 The “émergences” system (available from http://www.inra.fr/maladies-
emergentes).
 One output of these surveillance systems are an indication of unusual
events that require additional investigation.
 A clinical reporting tool alone is only the first step to determine if the cases
share an etiologic pathway.

14. Limitations
 Atypical case detection is limited by practitioners’ experience, knowledge,
vigilance, and willingness to report findings.
 Multiple, similar reports of atypical cases improve confidence that a new
disease is emerging.
 Foster basic common knowledge and shared practical experience among
veterinarians.
 Surveillance for the unknown requires a mind set different from
surveillance of the known so notification quality and vigilance should be
enhanced by specific training courses.
 A substantial limitation of syndromic surveillance is the need to establish
baseline levels for defined syndromes.
 Review by expert clinicians, necropsy findings, immuno-logic screenings,
and focused epidemiologic studies play key roles in such determination

16. Outbreak Investigation

17. Onto an FMD Outbreak
 Each and every outbreak should be investigated to know
the epidemiology of the disease with forward and
backward linkage.
 Isolation and containment of sick animals and their
treatment.
 Ring vaccination (5-10 Km) radius around the affected
village/area to cover all the susceptible animals including
sheep, goats, pigs etc. to prevent virus transmission
 Restriction/control of movement of infected animals to
prevent the spread of the infection.
 Disinfection and implementation of bio-security measures
 Adequate Public awareness campaign in outbreak areas.

18. Tools For Animal Health Management Planning
and
Evaluation
 Risk analysis:-
 A properly performed risk analysis provides the necessary scientific basis
for the decision to accept or reject a commodity for import.
 For determining strategies for control of transboundary diseases.
 Components-
 Hazard identification- Identification & status of hazard such as FMD.
 Risk assessment-Evaluate potential, probability & consequence of infection
 Risk management- Evaluation of options for mitigation.
 Risk communication- Risk analysis report & discussion with stakeholders.
 HACCP

19. Type of Risk Analysis
 Quantitative risk analysis- used by highly skilled & data needs to be correct.
 Qualitative risk analysis - the level of risk may be categorised as low,
medium, or high, or ranked on a scale of 1 – 5.
 Modelling
 Mathematical modelling is increasingly being used to predict outcomes of
disease events.
 The spread of infection in a population can be represented by a simple model,
the SIR (susceptible-infectious-recovered) model.
 R0:- the number of cases that will result from single infected contact
 R0> 1:- more than one secondary infection results from primary contact.
 R0≥2:- Epidemics may occur.
 R0=1 the infection can become endemic in the population.
 Models are useful tools but they are not infallible and the accuracy of their
predictions depends heavily on the correctness of the assumptions on which
they are based

20. Tools for Interventions for Prevention and
Control
 Vaccination.
 Chemotherapy/chemoprophylaxis.
 Biosecurity.
 Segregation of populations.
 Commodity-based trade.
 Animal identification and traceability.
 Natural resistance.
 QUARANTINE.
 MOVEMENT CONTROL.
 CULLIING

22. Recent Advancement In Biosensors Technology
 4th revolution in agriculture.
 Offers highly specialised monitoring devices.
 Quantify physiological, immunological and behavioural responses of
livestock as well as monitoring of an animal's environment.
 Highly specific and sensitive.
 The data generated from integrated livestock monitoring is anticipated to
assist farmers.
 Expected to reduce the impact of the livestock industry on the environment.
 Can mitigate catastrophic effects of infectious outbreaks in farm animals.
 Reliable and easy to use.
 Expected to become affordable.
 The nanotechnology approach offers direct benefits through simpler
testing, smaller size, greater accuracy, faster results, and faster responses to
key health threats.
 “Real-time biometry” functioning to monitor and control genotype,
environment, wellbeing, productivity and animal product quality.

23.  By 2050, food demand is expected to increase by 70%, and meat
production will increase by 50%.
 The precision farming market, important in livestock management, is
expected to grow from USD 3.20 Billion in 2015 to USD 7.87 by 2022.

25. Outputs
 Measures dynamic changes in real time, with respect to the changes in
physiological state and metabolism (e.g., gastro-intestinal flora, circulating
levels of anabolic and catabolic hormones, immune function, gene
expression).
 Monitoring of real-time autonomic responses (e.g., respiration rate,
heartrate and heartrate variability, blood pressure, changes in peripheral
blood flow) and defence-related reflexes (e.g., startle).
 Enables rapid, accurate characterisation of dietary inputs and final products
(meat, eggs, milk) in terms of nutrient content (total and bioavailable), anti-
nutritional factors and bioactive components.
 Help to select special animal breeds that are robust and resilient to
environmental stressors by enabling rapid assessment of the impacts of
animal genotype and environmental factors at different life stages.
 Help in the development of advanced bio-mathematical models to identify
approaches and strategies to improve the productivity, efficiency and
wellbeing of animals and mitigate the potential negative environmental
impacts of livestock production.

26.  Biosensors for breath analysis
 VOCs can be found in the breath, blood, faeces, skin, urine and vaginal
fluids of animals.
 In cattle, analysis of VOCs has been explored to diagnose bovine
respiratory disease, brucellosis, bovine tuberculosis, Johne's disease,
ketoacidosis and normal rumen physiology.
 Sensors analysing metabolites in perspiration & tears
 The electrochemical sensor for lactate levels includes a flexible printed
tattoo that can detect lactate levels.
 Radio-frequency identification (RFID) sensor patch, which allows for
potentiometric sensing of solutes and surface temperature that can be read
on a smartphone application.
 Biosensor for self-monitoring of tear glucose and are currently in the
animal testing stages.

27. Herd health solutions from DeLaval
 Herd Navigator™(Durkin and DeLaval, 2010) measures the level
of progesterone in milk and the software suggests the insemination
time, lists animals for final pregnancy confirmation, indicates early
abortion and lists the cows at risk for cysts and prolonged anoestrus.
 https://www.delaval.com/en-us/our-solutions/herd-management/
 Automatically measures lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in the milk.
The enzyme LDH is highly correlated to somatic cell counts.
 Automatically monitoring the BHB – beta hydroxybutyrate in the
milk in the first 60 days after calving, focusing on the cows at risk
of ketosis.
 DeLaval DelPro™ is designed for herd health. It provides a
complete scope of animal health to identify cows that are in need for
attention.
 It can also be connected to several DeLaval early warning health
systems such as Herd Navigator™, BSC camera, activity meters and
milk conductivity meters.

28. Biosensors for Animal Diseases
 The animals can be monitored for BRD using biometric clinical scores,
body temperature, haematology, serum cortisol and infrared thermal values
using an automated, RFID-driven, infrared thermography technology.
 Genie I, a portable platform, also allows for the on-site detection of viral
RNA by reverse-transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-
LAMP) for FMD.
 Indirect on-line sensor system based on the automated California Mastitis
Test (CMT) in milk has been developed for acute mastitis.
 On-chip detection of βHBA in milk using a miniaturised, cost-effective
optical sensor is true.
 Biomarkers in saliva for early detection and diagnosis of diseases & to
monitor the progression of disease.
 Development of a wearable salivary uric acid mouth guard sensor for
detecting salivary cortisol as stress indicator.

29. Livestock Monitoring Systems for Observing
Physiological
Parameters And Health of Animals
 Motion-detection technology and video recording coupled with the
Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) can be used to gather information on
animal size and identify low-weight animals.
 Use of wireless sensors for the two-way transmission of data.
 The Silent Herdsman is a wearable technology and monitors all activities
of cattle to analyse their behaviour.
Sound signals collected using
microphones and a data collection
card analysed by a neural network
pattern-recognition system can detect
and diagnose necrotic enteritis with
100% accuracy on day 8 post the
disease onset.

31. Indian Recommendation In Disease Emergency
 Geographic and seasonal estimates of diseases.
 Establish indices for projection of future disease patterns and trends.
 Develop time and location specific epidemiological profiles.
 Forewarn the endemic, new or emerging diseases.
 Evolve strategies for national disease control and eradication.
 Design economically feasible livestock health delivery system.
 Promote production and exports.
 Conduct risk analysis for import regulation of animals / products.
1. Interactive Voice Response System.
2. SMS through mobile/cell phones.
3. Toll free land line phones - voice mail

32. • http://www.oie.int/wahis_2/public/wahid.php
/Wahidhome/Home
• http://www.nivedi.res.in:8080/Nadres/
• http://www.nihsad.nic.in/