mendinp that livestock sanitary authorities in 

 the States gather reliable information about 

 the health of livestock and outbreaks of com- 

 municable diseases, and forward it to a central 

 location for summary and publication. 



More recently, the Association's Committee 

 on Morbidity and Mortality again reviewed the 

 situation, and adopted a plan to assist the U.S. 

 Department of Agriculture in establishing, in 

 cooperation with State livestock sanitary offi- 

 cials, a .system for collecting and disseminating 

 statistics on livestock diseases. This was the 

 beginning of the Animal Diseases Reporting 

 System, established in the Agricultural Re- 

 search Service of the U.S. Department of Agri- 

 culture, in November 1955. 



Reporting will not, in itself, prevent the 

 spread of disease. But it is an important 

 foundation in building sound programs of live- 

 stock di.sease prevention, control, and eradica- 

 tion. During the past several years, much 

 progress has been made. The individual States 

 have assumed i-esponsibility for collecting in- 

 formation within the State. The U.S. Public 

 Health Service has participated actively in 

 instituting State reporting systems. At the 

 same time, the Agricultural Research Service 

 has cooperated closely with State Livestock 

 Sanitary Ofticials, the U.S. Livestock Sanitary 

 Association, the U.S. Public Health Service, 

 State health departments, veterinary colleges, 

 the American Vetei'inary Medical Association, 

 Poultry Division of the Agricultural Marketing 

 Service, and other Federal and State agencies. 



Why disease reporting? 



Why is animal disease reporting important? 

 Its purpose is to furnish continuing informa- 

 tion that will enable us more accurately to 

 estimate disease losses. These reports also 

 alert us to changes in disease incidence and 

 help in program planning. 



Reporting includes four basic steps: collec- 

 tion of information, processing, use, and co- 

 ordination. To be effective this must be a 

 continuous cycle with each step coordinated 

 with and supporting the others. 



Shorfcomings 



Animal disease reporting has its weak spots. 

 Reports rarely show all occurrences of a 



given disease. Sometimes practitioners fail to 

 cooperate. Some reports do not include all 

 of the diseases observed ; others include some 

 diseases more consistently than they do others, 

 or may have incorrect field diagnoses. 



These reports have additional weaknesses. 

 The owner of disea.sed livestock may fail to 

 consult a veterinarian, thus, the occurrence is 

 not reported, or the veterinarian may visit 

 the herd only once. Perhaps several cases have 

 occurred before he is called. Others that are 

 not reported to him may occur after his call. 

 No reporting system can reflect all occurrences 

 of every disea.se, particularly those that are 

 common or widespread. 



Obviously, these and other factors must be 

 considered if disease reports are to be inter- 

 preted properly. Constant effort is needed to 

 improve the system to keep the effects of these 

 shortcomings to a minimum. 



The veterinary practitioner 



Since he does daily battle with disease, the 

 practitioner has a definite stake in a report- 

 ing system, and without his help there can 

 be no program. By his cooperation the prac- 

 titioner provides a wealth of disease informa- 

 tion not readily available elsewhere. 



Although reporting programs are criticized 

 for their inaccuracy of diagnosis and of evalu- 

 ation based on incomplete participation, the 

 means are available to obtain better data. Ac- 

 curacy can be improved as time goes on. And 

 the reports do provide the most realistic in- 

 formation obtainable on county. State, and 

 national levels. This is particularly true if 

 the information is available over a period of 

 years so that broad trends can be recognized. 



There are also indirect benfits from practi- 

 tioner participation. A working relationship 

 is created which encourages consultation and 

 prompt reporting to regulatory officials of po- 

 tentially serious disease outbreaks. 



Collection of information 



This is the most difficult aspect of the re- 

 porting cycle. Obviously, the wide.st possible 

 range of accurate informational sources is 

 needed if the final reports are to have meaning. 

 Practicing veterinarians .... veterinary col- 

 leges .... veterinary science departments of 



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