Prioritization of Animal Diseases

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Prioritization of Animal Diseases

• European Technology Platform for Animal Health
  (EU TP GAH)
• Stakeholders Meeting
• Bruxelles, February 15, 2006
• carolin.schumacher_at_merial.com

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Aim and Objectives of the EU TP GAH
Aim  To facilitate and accelerate the
development and distribution of the most
effective tools for controlling animal diseases
of major importance to Europe and the rest of the
world, thereby improving human and animal health,
food safety and quality, animal welfare, and
market access, contributing to achieve the
Millenium Development Goals .

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• Objectives
• Protect Europe from the incursion of
  epidemic animal diseases and zoonoses.
• Deal rapidly and effectively with outbreaks
  in Europe should they occur.
• Assist in speed of access to market,
  facilitation of world trade and the alleviation
  of poverty by reducing the impact of
  these diseases in developing countries.
• Reduce worldwide levels of disease and
  thereby indirectly protect Europe from
  disease spread by people or trade.

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Major Deliverables of the EU TP GAH

• Deliverables
• bring more focus into research towards new
  tools for dealing with animal diseases.
• increase the translation of technology
  into applications, which are efficacious
  in the control of animal disease.
• bring the developed tools faster to the
  market.
• remove unnecessary legal and regulatory
  hurdles, which limit disease control
  options and decrease competitiveness of the
  industry.
• enable disease control authorities both
  within the EU and other countries to
  provide a swift and efficient reaction to new
  disease outbreaks.
• streamline research, development and
  regulatory efforts in order to ensure
  consumer safety without compromising the
  efficiency of the product development.
• view projects in the context of
  feasibility, applicability, need and
  availability of existing products within
  the time frame of the SRA.

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Developing the EU TP GAH Strategic Research
Agenda (SRA)

• Strategically important issues
• High societal relevance
• Linked to Europes future growth,
  competitiveness, and sustainability
• Dependant upon major research and
  technological advances
• Medium to long-term scope
• Important consequences for animal health
  research
• Aligned with other Community policies and
  strategies
• Significance for developing world

Prioritize animal diseases
Improve Technology Transfer
Maintain Global Perspective
Conduct Gap Analysis
Ensure fundamental research
Consider Regulatory Issues
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Animal Disease prioritization model

• Objectives
• Develop a risk-based, consistent system to
  evaluate Global Animal Health Priorities
  (endemic, exotic, emerging) and the risk they
  pose for the European Union.
• Determine baseline criteria important for a
  disease prioritization model (Likelihood of
  disease occurrence, Epidemiology, Economical
  impact, Availability of products, Likelihood of
  program success etc.),
• Validate model with major stakeholders of the
  European Technology Platform for Global Animal
  Health
• Propose the Animal Health Priority rating
  model and preliminary list of identified Global
  Animal Health Priorities to the EU Commission as
  part of the Industry led Strategic Research
  Agenda developed by the current Technology
  Platform of Global Animal Health.

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A serious animal health problem in the EU meets
one or more of the following criteria

• known disease or animal health problem
  (including drug resistance and animal welfare)
  that does not occur (in endemic form) in the EU,
  and for which it is considered to be in the EUs
  interest to be free of the disease.
• variant form of an endemic disease, caused
  by a strain or type of the causal agent that can
  be distinguished by appropriate diagnostic
  methods, and which, if established in the EU,
  would have a serious socio-economical or public
  health impact (emerging, exotic).
• disease of unknown or uncertain cause, which
  may, on the evidence available at the time, be an
  entirely new disease, or one not included in the
  priority disease list.
• disease for which authorized veterinary
  medicines may, on the evidence available at the
  time, be ineffective, unavailable, unlikely to
  become available, unsuitable or in the process of
  becoming unsuitable
• known endemic disease, but with potential to
  occur in the form of a severe outbreak requiring
  an emergency response restrict a large-scale
  epidemic of European significance or serious loss
  to the market economy.
• disease which meets one or more of the
  criteria for the inclusion in the OIE list

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Criteria for inclusion in the OIE list

• International Spread
• Significant Spread within Naïve Populations
•   Zoonotic Potential
• Animal pathogens and human pathogens for
  which animals are asymptomatic
  reservoirs
• Has transmission to humans been proven?
  (with the exception of artificial
  circumstances)
• Is human infection associated with severe
  consequences? (death or prolonged
  illness)
• Emerging Diseases is there rapid spread
  and/or apparent zoonotic properties?

gt A hundred animal (mammal, aquatic and bee)
diseases listed
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Animal health priority scoring criteria
Preventive diagnostic tool availability
Public perception
International prevalence
Significant spread
Zoonotic potential
RISK
Probability of occurence
Emerging or re-emerging disease
Food Safety
Host range
Clinical Severity
Economic/trade/ecological impact
Existing Proven Control Methods
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Group 1 Major Diseases

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• African Swine Fever
• Pestivirus Classical Swine Fever
•       Rabies
•       Avian Influenza
•       Foot and Mouth Disease
•       Bluetongue
•       Parasitic gastro-intestinal/neglected
  parasitic diseases (neglected
  zoonoses category)
•       Contagious Bovine Pleuro-Pneumonia
•       Food born zoonosis (including Salmonella /
  Campylobacter / E. coli /
  Cryptosporidium)
•       Transmissable Spongiform Encephalopathies
  (ante-mortem diagnosis)
•       Mastitis
•       Tick/fly borne diseases
•       Q fever
•       Mycobacterium (Bovine tuberculosis and
  Bovine Paratuberculosis)
•       Zoonoses from non human primates

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Group 2 Diseases for Surveillance

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• Ruminant pox virus infection
• Rift Valley Fever
• West Nile Disease
• Peste des petits ruminants
• Swine Vesicular Disease
• African Horse Sickness
• Food born viral diseases

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Group 3 Neglected Zoonoses

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• Anthrax
• Bovine Tuberculosis
• Brucellosis
• Cystercicosis
• Echinococcosis
• Rabies
• Trypanosomiasis

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Animal Disease Prioritization Objectivity
practicality of tool, validity relevance of
criteria
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Conclusions

• A tool is needed for a transparent classification
  of animal health priorities in Europe
• A risk-based disease prioritization model would
  allow a more comprehensive approach to the
  allocation of resources for research and control
• Criteria for successful disease prioritization
  need to be valid, relevant, consistent and have
  confirmed impact on the overall priority status
  of each disease.
• A range of variables needs to be carefully
  considered (overall risk level of animal disease,
  socio-economic impact, variation in geographical
  importance, relevance for EU, feasibility of
  control, impact on economies, human health, food
  safety, consumer perception, political views
  etc.)
• The simple results and methodology presented here
  need to be refined, validated and widely
  accepted.
• Matching the research and development
  requirements for identified animal disease
  priorities with tool/methodology gaps should
  increase concept output and potentially the rate
  of new product developments.

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Disease prioritization Recommendations (1)

• Create a risk-based disease-specific
  prioritisation model to evaluate global animal
  health priorities (endemic, exotic, emerging
  diseases) and the risk they pose for the European
  Union in order to assist in allocating research
  funding and implementation of control measures.
   
• Use the model to identify and formally prioritize
  animal diseases of major socio-economic, animal
  or public health importance for Europe. 
• Identify the threats to Europe from pathogens
  which are not considered important at present
  (i.e. horizon scanning) and conduct full risk
  assessment of potential threats from new and
  emerging diseases in particular those outside the
  EU boundaries.
• Develop and use a predictive model to identify
  when a disease agent becomes a significant threat
  and assess the potential global costs.

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Disease prioritization Recommendations (2)

• Target research funding to the diseases in the
  defined priority areas i.e. major disease, those
  for surveillance and neglected zoonoses unless
  specific cases can be made for funding research
  into other diseases.
• Develop research with appropriate funding into
  surveillance methodologies to ensure new and
  emerging disease both in Europe and on its
  borders are detected rapidly.
• Direct research funding into wildlife diseases
  especially in relation to zoonoses, which may
  have an impact on human and animal health.
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• Initiate research programmes for the neglected
  zoonoses in cooperation with the developing
  countries in order to develop sustainable
  strategies for control.

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