Eric Neumann

Citation

Thesis Title
Biosecurity and exotic disease surveillance in the New Zealand pig industry

Read article at Massey Research Online:

The New Zealand commercial pig industry is highly productive and is free from many of the important infectious diseases present in much of the rest of the world. However, the large number of non-commercial pig holdings being operated in New Zealand with minimal attention to biosecurity places the commercial industry at risk.  Epidemiological studies were undertaken to quantify the likelihood of an exotic disease incursion. Based on knowledge gained from these studies, disease surveillance methods were investigated then presented to industry stakeholders for suitability in terms of cost and feasibility.  The work demonstrates the New Zealand pig industry is susceptible to introduction of an exotic disease and that the population of non-commercial pigs must be considered when developing disease readiness plans for the industry. The described studies show that a cost effective national disease surveillance programme can be implemented through use of existing and newly developed sources of surveillance information.

Supervisors
Professor Mark Stevenson
Dr William Hall
Professor Roger Morris
Distinguished Professor Nigel French