Tuberculosis, Brucellosis and Leucosis in Cattle: A Cost Description of Eradication Programmes in the Region of Lazio, Italy

Abstract

The eradication of tuberculosis, brucellosis and leucosis in cattle has not yet been achieved in the entire Italian territory. The region of Lazio, Central Italy, represents an interesting case study to evaluate the evolution of costs for these eradication programmes, as in some provinces the eradication has been officially achieved, in some others the prevalence has been close to zero for years, and in still others disease outbreaks have been continuously reported. The objectives of this study were i) to describe the costs for the eradication programmes for tuberculosis, brucellosis and leucosis in cattle carried out in Lazio between 2007 and 2011, ii) to calculate the ratio between the financial contribution of the European Union (EU) for the eradication programmes and the estimated total costs and iii) to estimate the potential savings that can be made when a province gains the certification of freedom from disease. For the i) and ii) objectives, data were collected from official sources and a costing procedure was applied from the perspective of the Regional Health Service. For the iii) objective, a Bayesian AR(1) regression was used to evaluate the average percentage reduction in costs for a province that gained the certification. The total cost for the eradication programmes adjusted for inflation to 1 January 2016 was estimated at 18 919 797 euro (5th and 95th percentiles of the distribution: 18 325 050-19 552 080 euro). When a province gained the certification of freedom from disease, costs decreased on average by (median of the posterior distribution) 47.5%, 54.5% and 54.9% for the eradication programmes of tuberculosis, brucellosis and leucosis, respectively. Information on possible savings from the reduction of control costs can help policy makers operating under budget constraints to justify the use of additional resources for the final phase of eradication.

Brucella spp. at the Wildlife-Livestock Interface: An Evolutionary Trajectory through a Livestock-to-Wildlife “Host Jump”?

“…In some developed countries, brucellosis in livestock (bovines, small ruminants, and pigs) has been eradicated and has thus become exotic or alien. From an economic point of view, it is of the utmost importance to reach and to keep a “brucellosis-free” status in livestock to be able to trade living animals freely without having to test animals for brucellosis before movement, which is extremely costly [ 3 ]. In this perspective, the presence of a reservoir of Brucella spp.…”

Assessment of listing and categorisation of animal diseases within the framework of the Animal Health Law (Regulation (EU) No 2016/429): enzootic bovine leukosis (EBL)

“…Between 2007 and 2011, the total cost incurred by the Health Service of Lazio Region (Italy) for the eradication of EBL was estimated in 6,134,694 EUR, of those about 2.5 million were the cost of the veterinarians labour, 8,864 for the transport, 23,908 for disposal and compensation for culled animals (Caminiti et al., ).…”

Network-based assessment of the vulnerability of Italian regions to bovine brucellosis

“…The strong reluctance of producers in complying with eradication programs is expected to be related to the large losses incurred. The total cost for brucellosis eradication in the region of Lazio in central Italy from 2007 to 2011 was estimated to be 6M Euros with 6.5% contribution of the European Union (Caminiti et al, 2016), for an average number of 236,262 cattle heads. While including culling, representing 0.5% of the overall figure, this estimate did not however consider costs associated with movement bans or additional losses for farmers such as decreased milk and meat production.…”