Animal Health and Welfare

Risk assessment concerning animal contagious diseases in Norway

Commissioned:

Report no: 2011: 25

Published: 19.12.2011

Main message:

The Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food Safety (VKM) has conducted a risk assessment of 71 terrestrial animal diseases which are subject to national regulation. 

Disease which are regulated according to EEA/EU legislation and OIA agreements have been excluded, as they are subject to international obligations.

The diseases are identified and characterized according to potential risks for health and welfare for domestic animals and wildlife, for public health and socioeconomic consequences.

The final estimated risk is expressed as a product of exposure and impact.

For the exposure assessment, the following three points were considered: Occurrence not known in Norway, high risk of introduction and/or having a highly infectious potential. 

Salmonellosis stands out as being of significantly higher risk than the other diseases, followed by: 2) swine influenza, 3) canine distemper, 4) paratuberculosis, 5) BVD, 6) glanders, 7) Mycoplasma bovis infection, 8) methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections, 9) Q fever, 10) American foulbrood.

The risk assessment is conducted on request from The Norwegian Food Safety Authority. In the future the authorities are expected to prioritize the use of public resources to a greater extent on diseases and health conditions which have, or may lead to, harmful effects on society in general. The risk assessment is a part of the background material for developing future health management as to combatting and surveillance of terrestrial animal diseases in Norway.

The assessment is, with certain modifications, conducted according to outlines from FAO and OIE.

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Vitenskapskomiteen for mat og miljø

The Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food and Environment

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