Transboundary and infectious diseases of small ruminants: Knowledge, attitude, and practice of nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoralists in northern Iran

Assessment of Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices Relating to Parasitic Diseases and Anthelmintic Resistance Among Livestock Farmers in Hamedan, Iran

“…Herd size had significant positive associations with the total knowledge scores of farmers of Hamedan and with their awareness regarding parasites and AR. Consistent with our results, in a recent study from Iran, owners of larger flocks and herds had considerably better understanding of enterotoxaemia, sheep and goat pox, and foot-and-mouth disease (17). Larger herd and flock sizes are usually associated with higher stocking densities, increased pasture helminth larval contamination, a higher parasite infection pressure, and more frequent anthelmintic treatments.…”

“…According to a wide range of different qualitative descriptors which was used to interpret the Chronbach's alpha values (15), the values were reasonable for knowledge, satisfactory for practices and acceptable for attitudes. Farmers in this survey were mostly middle-aged males with relatively low education, consistent with the general demographics of livestock keepers in Asia and Africa (16,17). Education level had a significant association with farmers' awareness about AR, as well as their knowledge, attitudes and practices toward sustainable worm control.…”

“…However, age of farmers, years of husbandry experience and type of livestock were not associated with their understanding of AR. In contrast, in a recent study from Iran that assessed KAP of small ruminant farmers, an association was observed between experience and the total number of animals each farmer owned, and understanding regarding several infectious diseases (17). This may imply that Iranian farmers are more familiar with visible clinical signs in their livestock (for example, mortality, lameness, skin lesions, etc.)…”

Peste des Petits Ruminants in Central and Eastern Asia/West Eurasia: Epidemiological Situation and Status of Control and Eradication Activities after the First Phase of the PPR Global Eradication Programme (2017–2021)

“…PPR presence and the implemented surveillance and control measures vary considerably across the region depending on the production system. SR systems include nomadic and semi-nomadic forms of pastoralism, which are still widely practised in most of Central Asia, South Caucasus [ 29 ], Mongolia [ 30 ] and the Islamic Republic of Iran [ 31 ], and sedentary household farming, which is prevalent in large parts of Turkey [ 32 ], China [ 33 ] and the Russian Federation [ 34 ]. Most countries have a mixture of pastoralism, with seasonal animal movements and more sedentary systems in other parts of the country.…”

Transboundary Animal Diseases, an Overview of 17 Diseases with Potential for Global Spread and Serious Consequences

“…Constraints to eradication include widespread distribution, high population turnover in small ruminants, low value of individual animals, and clinical disease that varies by species and breed [519]. Understanding farmer's KAP (knowledge, attitude and practice) towards infectious diseases and consideration of gender issues are important to efforts for limiting impact and spread of disease [520,521]. Research is needed to characterize the effective reproductive number, develop thermostable and DIVA vaccines, refine targets for molecular epidemiology, increase field diagnostics, and determine the role of atypical hosts [514].…”