Epidemiology of Endemic Infectious Diseases - Accept Endemicity or Eliminate?

摘要

Endemic infectious diseases (such as mastitis, infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR), Johne's disease (JD), or tuberculosis in cattle) are common causes of disease in livestock. They affect health and well-being and reduce the economic potential ofeach animal, herd and industry. Endemic diseases exhibit necessarily complex epidemiologic and pathogenic behavior; those that exhibit less complex behavior have generally already been controlled. We are still far from fully understanding the epidemiology and pathobiology of many endemic infectious diseases. To improve animal health through control of infectious disease, we need to understand endemic disease persistence. The aim of this paper is to provide an insight into some of the mechanisms for disease persistence. We argue that heterogeneities in hosts and pathogens, and survival of the organism in the environment, play an important role in maintaining endemicity. The options to either eliminate or control endemic infectious diseases are exploredusing some common infectious disease examples. Finally, approaches to optimally manage infectious diseases of livestock are discussed.