The background and the rationale for the monitoring of national and regional disease control and eradication programmes in developing countries focusing on the Pan African Rinderpest Campaign (PARC) are described. The technological and administrative aspects of the establishment of a system to serologically monitor the success of vaccination against rinderpest and the requirements to establish and maintain a diagnostic capability for the major epizootics in laboratories of developing countries are discussed. The advantages of the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), which evolved as the main diagnostic technology and is now the mot widely used serological technique in mass screening, are presented. The progress towards the final eradication of rinderpest is regulated through a set of guidelines of the Office international des epizooties (OIE) and culminates in the final (OIE) declaration of freedom from infection. Countries are required to operate intensive disease surveillance programmes based on statistically and epidemiologically defined standards. These programmes, which now also include clinical surveillance, are described. They are based on active disease search as opposed to passive disease reporting systems as relied upon in the past by veterinary services in Africa.
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