Evaluation Survey on Agreement with Existing Definitions of Biosecurity with a Focus on Livestock
Claude Saegerman,
Gianni Parisi,
Jarkko Niemi,
Marie-France Humblet,
Jorge Ron-Román,
Bachir Souley Kouato,
Alberto Allepuz,
Vincent Porphyre,
Maria Rodrigues da Costa,
Véronique Renault
Affiliations
Claude Saegerman
Research Unit in Epidemiology and Risk Analysis Applied to Veterinary Sciences (UREAR-ULiege), Fundamental and Applied Research for Animal Health (FARAH) Centre, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liege, 4000 Liege, Belgium
Gianni Parisi
Research Unit in Epidemiology and Risk Analysis Applied to Veterinary Sciences (UREAR-ULiege), Fundamental and Applied Research for Animal Health (FARAH) Centre, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liege, 4000 Liege, Belgium
Jarkko Niemi
Bioeconomy and Environment Unit, Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), 60320 Seinäjoki, Finland
Marie-France Humblet
Unit of Faculty Biosecurity, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Liege University, 4000 Liege, Belgium
Jorge Ron-Román
Grupo de Investigación en Sanidad Animal y Humana (GISAH), Carrera de Ingeniería en Agropecuaria, Departamento de Ciencias de la Vida y la Agricultura, Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas-ESPE, Sangolquí P.O. Box 171-5-231, Ecuador
Bachir Souley Kouato
Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique du Niger (INRAN), Niamey P.O. Box 429, Niger
Alberto Allepuz
Department of Animal Health and Anatomy, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), 08193 Barcelona, Spain
Vincent Porphyre
CIRAD, UMR SELMET, F-34398 Montpellier, France
Maria Rodrigues da Costa
Centre for Epidemiology and Planetary Health (CEPH), Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), Inverness Campus, Inverness IV2 5NA, UK
Véronique Renault
Agronomes et Vétérinaires Sans Frontières, 69007 Lyon, France
Disease prevention, including biosecurity, surveillance, and traceability are key aspects to minimize the risk of animal diseases causing harm to society. Diseases for which biosecurity are needed depend on species of interest, e.g., African swine fever, avian influenza, or foot-and-mouth disease. However, several definitions of biosecurity co-exist in the literature. Under the new COST Action “Biosecurity Enhanced Through Training Evaluation and Raising Awareness” (BETTER) CA20103, we launched an initial survey on the agreement with eight existing definitions of (livestock) biosecurity, to rank keywords to consider before attempting a more consolidated definition, and to select the desirable qualities of a definition of livestock biosecurity. Respondents (N = 316) had a male–female gender ratio close to one, were mostly between 25 and 54 years old, and had animal health as the main field of expertise (30% were government officials). The significant most popular biosecurity definition was the one that conceptualized the rules of 5B’s (bio-exclusion, bio-containment, bio-compartmentation, bio-prevention, and bio-preservation). The top two keywords to consider for the consolidation of the biosecurity definition were “prevention” and “measures”. The optimal biosecurity definition needs to be operational and related to animal health but also comprehensible, simple, and related to public health. The survey results highlight the need for the integration of more aspects in the existing definitions of livestock biosecurity (prevention of zoonoses and preservation of the environment and diversity).
