NR AXRO
AU Loli Piccolomini,L.; Duranti,A.; Ru,G.; Binkin,N.
TI Clinical Surveillance of BSE in Italy: Survey to Investigate the Application of the Quality Checks
QU International Conference - Prion 2007 (26.-28.9.2007) Edinburgh International Conference Centre, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK - Book of Abstracts: Epidemiology, Risk Assessment and Transmission P04.79
IA http://www.prion2007.com/pdf/Prion Book of Abstracts.pdf
PT Konferenz-Poster
AB Clinical surveillance is an important component of BSE surveillance system in use and, if effective, it can be a good indicator of the presence of the infection if laboratory based surveillance is suspended. Since the year 2000 the Italian veterinary officers were requested of actively looking for clinically suspected animals by visiting each farm. However, the efficacy of the system has been shown to be very low, with few reported clinical suspects. Therefore we conducted a survey to better understand content and quality of the surveillance conducted on farms, the attitudes of public veterinarians involved in this operation and the association of these variables with the training received by the veterinary staff. In 8 regions of Italy a questionnaire was distributed by mail to a sample of local health unit veterinarians. Univariate and multivariate analysis was performed on the 494 completed questionnaires. 75.8% of the interviewed veterinarians (IC 95%: 71.7-79.5) visit each farm twice per year as indicated in the national plan, but the quality of the checks seems to be low. In fact only 24.2% (IC 95%: 20.5-28.3) use more detailed and sensitive screening strategies. Moreover some results indicate a lack of motivation of veterinarians: BSE was considered a priority problem only by 20.4% (IC 95%: 16.9-24.4) and only 56.5% (IC 95%: 51.7-61.2) considered clinical herd checks to be effective for BSE surveillance. In addition only 17.0 % (IC 95%: 13.9-20.7) had a good understanding of the consequences of the notification of a BSE suspect, particularly regarding the refunding of animals to the owner; that may compromise the effectiveness of their informative action towards farmers. In the multivariate model neither the quality of the checks nor the veterinarians' attitudes were associated with the training they had received. Considering the low efficacy of training in influencing attitudes and practice, other strategies need to be identified to improve the efficacy of the clinical surveillance or to evaluate the possibility of changing the surveillance strategy.
AD
Luisa Loli Piccolomini (lloli@regione.emilia-romagna.it), Regional Veterinary Services, Bologna,
Italy; A. Duranti, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale Umbria e Marche, Italy; G. Ru, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale di Piemonte, Italy; N. Binkin, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Italy
SP englisch
PO Schottland
EA pdf-Datei und Poster (Postertitel: The application of clinical surveillance for BSE in Italy)