Building a picture: Prioritisation of exotic diseases for the pig industry in Australia using multi-criteria decision analysis

Abstract

Diseases that are exotic to the pig industry in Australia were prioritised using a multi-criteria decision analysis framework that incorporated weights of importance for a range of criteria important to industry stakeholders. Measurements were collected for each disease for nine criteria that described potential disease impacts. A total score was calculated for each disease using a weighted sum value function that aggregated the nine disease criterion measurements and weights of importance for the criteria that were previously elicited from two groups of industry stakeholders. One stakeholder group placed most value on the impacts of disease on livestock, and one group placed more value on the zoonotic impacts of diseases. Prioritisation lists ordered by disease score were produced for both of these groups. Vesicular diseases were found to have the highest priority for the group valuing disease impacts on livestock, followed by acute forms of African and classical swine fever, then highly pathogenic porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome. The group who valued zoonotic disease impacts prioritised rabies, followed by Japanese encephalitis, Eastern equine encephalitis and Nipah virus, interspersed with vesicular diseases. The multi-criteria framework used in this study systematically prioritised diseases using a multi-attribute theory based technique that provided transparency and repeatability in the process. Flexibility of the framework was demonstrated by aggregating the criterion weights from more than one stakeholder group with the disease measurements for the criteria. This technique allowed industry stakeholders to be active in resource allocation for their industry without the need to be disease experts. We believe it is the first prioritisation of livestock diseases using values provided by industry stakeholders. The prioritisation lists will be used by industry stakeholders to identify diseases for further risk analysis and disease spread modelling to understand biosecurity risks to this industry.

DISCONTOOLS: a database to identify research gaps on vaccines, pharmaceuticals and diagnostics for the control of infectious diseases of animals

“…Nipah virus obtained the highest score. This was an interesting outcome and its high ranking is confirmed in other recent studies to prioritize diseases of food-producing animals and zoonoses [25, 28]. In the case of FMD, it scores highly due to knowledge gaps along with its impact on animal health and welfare, society and trade even though we have good diagnostics and vaccines.…”

“…In the field of animal health, most studies have focused on prioritisation of food-borne and zoonotic pathogens [13, 16–20]. In addition, studies have also been conducted with the specific aims of prioritising surveillance of wildlife pathogens [21], disease control for poverty alleviation [22], non-regulatory animal health issues [23] and exotic diseases and emerging animal health threats [24, 25]. …”

Socio-Ecological Dimensions of Infectious Diseases in Southeast Asia

“…Kemmeren et al ( 2006 ) developed a quantitative model to help Dutch decision makers to establish the priority of pathogenic microorganisms that can be transmitted by food, as a basis for effective and effi cient policy-making on control, prevention and surveillance. Brookes et al ( 2014 ) use a multi-criteria framework, combining disease information with pig producer values, in order to rank exotic diseases for the pig industry in Australia, as a decision aid to identify priority research topics. The estimation the disease burden and the cost of illness is proceeded using an incidence approach, i.e.…”

Modelling seasonal habitat suitability and connectivity for feral pigs in northern Australia: towards risk-based management of infectious animal diseases with wildlife hosts

“…This is highly beneficial to Australia's agricultural industries in terms of livestock welfare, production advantages and access to competitive domestic and international markets (East et al 2013;Brookes et al 2014). However, freedom from disease cannot be guaranteed.…”

“…I use one of these, classical swine fever (CSF), to illustrate the role of feral pigs as a risk factor and the impacts of an incursion. CSF is a highly contagious directly transmitted disease, whose potential introduction is of major concern to the Australian pork industry (Brookes et al 2014). CSF is classified as an emergency animal disease in Australia (Emergency Animal Disease Response Agreement 2012), and as a notifiable disease internationally (World Organisation for Animal Health 2016).…”