The economic efficiency and equity of government policies on brucellosis: comparative insights from Albania and the United States of America

Abstract

Brucellosis is a zoonotic bacterial disease that causes recurring febrile illness in humans, as well as reproductive failure and reduced milk production in livestock. The cost of brucellosis is equal to the sum of lost productivity of humans and animals, as well as private and public expenditures on brucellosis surveillance, prevention, control and treatment. In Albania, Brucella abortus and B. melitensis affect humans, cattle and small ruminants. In the United States, B. abortus affects cattle and wild ungulates in the Greater Yellowstone Area. These two case studies illustrate the importance of place-specific context in developing sustainable and effective brucellosis mitigation policies. Government regulations and mitigation strategies should be designed with consideration of all costs and benefits, both to public agencies and private stakeholders. Policy-makers should, for example, weigh the benefits of a regulation that increases epidemiological certainty against the costs of compliance for producers and households. The distribution of costs and benefits amongst public agencies and private individuals can have important implications for a policy's economic efficiency and equity quite apart from their total magnitude.

Socially vs. Privately Optimal Control of Livestock Diseases: A Case for Integration of Epidemiology and Economics

“…Additionally, as prevalence decreases, there is a sharp increase in the marginal costs of control action, which leads to a fall in optimal control effort. This result is consistent with the economic principle of diminishing returns and has also been reported by other theoretical (32) and empirical studies, namely those that analyzed control actions against tuberculosis (24,47) and brucellosis (48,49) in cattle.…”

“…Given this burden on human health, in addition to animal health, voluntary actions taken by farmers to control the disease in their livestock (e.g., through vaccination) generate positive externalities, as society benefits from farmers' actions whilst not bearing the costs of these actions. This is a market failure that requires coordinated action to achieve socially optimal outcomes in terms of both human and animal health and productivity (48). Hence, the benefits enjoyed and the costs born by both public and private sectors must be considered throughout the planning phase of control interventions, which can include, among others, the provision of subsidized goods and services (e.g., vaccination), creating and enforcing regulations (e.g., movement restrictions) and setting compensation schemes (e.g., for culled seropositive animals) (8,48).…”

The seroprevalence of brucellosis and molecular characterization of Brucella species circulating in the beef cattle herds in Albania

“…In Albania, brucellosis is one of the most common zoonotic diseases and has both animal health and veterinary public health importance [13,14]. Both B. abortus and B. melitensis affect the national cattle herd, small ruminants, and humans [15]. The control and eradication programs of brucellosis were directed at the reduction and elimination of the disease in small ruminants (sheep and goats), as well as in larger dairy cattle herds of more than ten animals [16].…”

Capripoxvirus Infections in Ruminants: A Review

“…Cattle rearing for slaughter is also affected due to wasting and long convalescence of infected cattle [ 29 ]. The control procedures in the event of a disease outbreak, the quarantine of neighbouring farms, and the costs borne by the breeders in the control of the disease are additional costs that impact the economy [ 30 , 31 ]. Internationally, LSDV epidemics result in restrictions in the cattle trade and can cause considerable losses [ 32 ].…”