aistand south~ern afrkca - (PDF, 101 mb) - USAID

Economic implications of the control of East Coast fever
in eastern, central and southern Africa
A.W. Mukhebi and B.D. Perry
International Laboratory for Research on Animal Diseases (1LRAD)
P.O. Box 30709, Nairobi, Kenya
Summary
Considerable economic losses in the eastern,
central and southern Africa region are caused by
East Coast fever. Annual estimates are US$ 168
million including a mortality of 1.1 million cattle.
The disease is conventionally controlled by
acaricides and chemotherapy, however, these
methods of control have become less reliable,
acceptable and sustainable for a variety of
reasons. These include the high cost ofacaricides
anid drugs paid for in foreign currency, poor
maintenance of dips or spray races, water
shortages, acaricide resistance, illegal cattle
movements, contamination of the environment
or food with toxic residues and altentative tick
hosts
New, safer, cheaper and more sustainable
methods based upon immunisation are being
developed. At present, the only available method
of Immunisation is the infection and treatment
method. It is currently being applied in many
countries of the region, albeit on a pilot basis.
This method shows considerable advantage
over the current control methods and appears to
be economically viable. Individual countries
need to assess the efficacy of and appropriate
policies for more widespread use of the method,
ILRAD provides technical backup and
collaborative socio-economic assessments of the
application of the method in the affected region,
Introduction
East Coast fever. Cause and distribution
East Coast fever (ECF) is a form of theileriosis
caused by the parasite Theileria parva transmitted
by the tick Rhipicephalusappendiculatus
(Norval et al, 1992). It is a major disease ofcattle
in 11 countries in eastern, central and southern
Africa. Kenya, Malawi, The affected Mozambique, countries Rwanda, are Burundi, Sudan,
Tanaa,Ma gad, zaire, Zamba an,
Tanzania, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia and
Zimbabwe. The estimated land area and cattle
population affected by ECF in the region are
provided ir, Table 1.
Economic losses due to East Coast fever
East Coast fever causes economic losses to
individual farmers and governments. Such
losses can be classified into direct and indirect
production losses, losses through costs incurred
for controlling the disease and casts for providing
research, training and extension services
pertaining to the disease. Such economic losses
vary widely within and among countries in both
time and space, due to differences in livestock
production system,, cattle types, level of disease
risk, disease control policies and programmes,
cost and price structures.
However, due to the paucity of data on the
occuirnce and productivity effects ofECF, these
losses are at present difficult to estimate
accurately.
Directproductionlojses. Direct production losses
can be attributed to the presence of the disease
in the cattla herd through morbidity and
mortality. Cattle which become severely infected
usually die unless treated. Taurine (Bos taurus)
cattle, their crosses and improved zebu or Sanga
(Bos indicus) cattle which originate in nonendemic
areas are most severely affected
(Morzaria et al, 1988). Indigenous brecds are
also at risk in situations where they are
subjected to intensive tick control, or when they
are moved from disease-free to endemic areas.
Mortality rates under endemically stable con-
Table 1. Land area and cattle population affected by East Coast fever in 11 African countries, 1988.
Item
Human population (million)
Total land area (million ha)
Land under theileriosis (million ha)
Land under thoilediosis of total (%)
Total cattle population (million)
Cattle under theileriosis (million)
Cattle under thoileriosis of total (%)
Sourcs: Mukhebl et al (119W).
11 ECF countries %of Africa
175 29
835 28
156
19 5
63 35
24
38 13
107