title: Economic aspects of Q fever control in dairy goats.
abstract: This paper presents an economic analysis of Q fever control strategies in dairy goat herds in The Netherlands. Evaluated control strategies involved vaccination strategies (being either preventive or reactive) and reactive non-vaccination strategies (i.e., culling or breeding prohibition). Reactive strategies were initiated after PCR positive bulk tank milk or after an abortion storm (abortion percentage in the herd of 5% or more). Preventive vaccination eradicates Q fever in a herd on average within 2 and 7 years (depending on breeding style and vaccination strategy). Economic outcomes reveal that preventive vaccination is always the preferred Q fever control strategy on infected farms and this even holds for a partial analysis if only on-farm costs and benefits are accounted for and human health costs are ignored. Averted human health costs depend to a large extend on the number of infected human cases per infected farm or animal. Much is yet unknown with respect to goat-human transmission rates. When the pathogen is absent in both livestock and farm environment then the "freedom of Q fever disease" is achieved. This would enable a return to non-vaccinated herds but more insight is required with respect to the mechanisms and probability of re-infection.
authors.affiliation: Agricultural Economic Research Institute, Part of Wageningen UR, 2502 LS, The Hague, The Netherlands. Electronic address: marcel.vanasseldonk@wur.nl.
authors.forename: M A P M
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: van Asseldonk
authors.affiliation: Central Veterinary Institute, Part of Wageningen UR, 8200 AB, Lelystad, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Bontje
authors.affiliation: Central Veterinary Institute, Part of Wageningen UR, 8200 AB, Lelystad, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Backer
authors.affiliation: Central Veterinary Institute, Part of Wageningen UR, 8200 AB, Lelystad, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: H J W van
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Roermund
authors.affiliation: Agricultural Economic Research Institute, Part of Wageningen UR, 2502 LS, The Hague, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: R H M
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Bergevoet
mesh_terms: D000822:Animal Husbandry / Q000191:economics; D000818:Animals; D000067565:Farmers; D015511:Goat Diseases / Q000191:economics* / Q000517:prevention & control; D006041:Goats; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D018803:Models, Economic; D009426:Netherlands; D011778:Q Fever / Q000191:economics / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000662:veterinary*
keywords: Economic analysis; Q fever