Editorial - (2021) Volume 5, Issue 6
Adiguel Usman*
Department of Veterinary Clinical Center, University of Kashihara, Sousse, Tunisia
Received Date: October 04, 2021; Accepted Date: October 18, 2021; Published Date: October 25, 2021
Citation: Usman A (2021) Perceptions Related to Animal Health. J Anim Sci Livest Prod Vol.5 No.6:e001.
Multifactorial diseases are caused by a range of risk factors specifically related to livestock management, sometimes involving pathogens that are widespread in livestock called "production diseases." These multifactorial diseases are present in most livestock farms with varying frequencies. Major diseases are highly contagious and severely affect livestock (such as footand- mouth disease, swine fever, and highly virulent avian influenza). The challenge is to eliminate these diseases from a territory when possible, and their presence in a highly susceptible population can have important health and economic consequences. Other communicable diseases are less contagious or have milder impacts and are often prevalent in populations. Infectious diseases include zoonotic diseases, which can be transmitted to humans. Animals can also be healthy carriers of human diseases that do not affect the health of the animals (example- Salmonella and Campylobacter).
There are four types of issues at stake in the field of animal health, those are as follows:
Economic issues
A wide range of diseases which affects the economic sustainability of livestock production (especially animal diseases and endemic diseases resulting in production losses, prevention costs or treatment, disruption of the activities or work of livestock breeders) and livestock sectors. In industrialized countries, these diseases severely affect the overall economic competitiveness of farms, businesses, and livestock industries. In developing countries, the risks of food shortages, capital dilution (as livestock is the only source of fixed capital, the only form of savings and social security for many), and loss of traction and labour force (resulting in a decrease in total agricultural output efficiency).
Public health issues
Public health issues concern three areas: zoonotic infectious disease; zoonotic infectious or parasitic diseases, transmissible (example-Tuberculosis, Brucellosis, certain viruses, Parasitic and influenza), vector-borne (West Nile disease, Rift valley, Lyme disease) or food-borne (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), toxic food poisoning); antibiotic resistance; and traces of drugs in animal products.
Environmental issues
Environmental issues related to the impact of agriculture include those associated with the release of xenobiotic into the environment (drug residues), the spread of antibiotic resistance, and infectious diseases that can be transmitted between domestic animals and wildlife (such as tuberculosis).
Animal welfare issues
There are many problems that concern animal rights objectors. Some of the most important animal welfare issues include wildlife survival, zoo animal living conditions, human activity in the food industry, abandoned pets, behavioral enrichment, and blood sport, cruelty to animals, feral cat, hunting and animal testing.
For all these epidemics, if stakes are primarily related to agricultural shares, then the economic sectors involved are also concerned like live animals, products of animal origin, inputs and services related to agricultural services. Consumers and the public are concerned, both quantitatively and qualitatively, about food security and public health. Livestock and agricultural sectors play a central role in industrialized countries, accounting for 53% of gross domestic product (food security, expanding economic activities related to the supply of the industry, livestock production, including the pharmaceutical industry, the value and trade of agricultural and food products are often very technologically advanced), as in developing countries (subsistence agriculture, food security, quality protein). Thus, economic issues related to animal health, not to mention bioterrorism risk, represent important strategic issues, even if they receive little attention from the media.
Furthermore, these different types of problems are not independent of each other. For example, the risks of drug residues in animal products, as well as the risk of antibiotic resistance in animals, are both public health problems, and both are directly correlated with the frequency of bacterial diseases that affect the economic balance of animals and manufacturing sectors. Therefore, all the above economic issues are related to the protection of animal health.
