Control strategies to face major tropical and subtropical diseases affecting goats

Abstract

© Springer International Publishing AG 2017.Many tropical and subtropical animal diseases are currently threatening the survival of livestock and people living in those affected regions. Unfortunately, they have received little attention by researchers and pharmaceutical companies but examples like rinderpest, officially eradicated in 2011, suppose a hope that global efforts can gain the battle against devastating tropical animal diseases. A second example would be the foot-and-mouth disease, which was eradicated from Europe after continental efforts coordinated by a special commission, which was set up in 1954. Despite some outbreaks occurred in England (2001 and 2007) and Bulgaria (2011), the control measures laid down in Council Directive 2003/85/EC, were able to control and eventually eradicate the outbreaks. Diseases that affect goats such as Rift Valley fever, peste des petits ruminants, goat pox, contagious caprine pleuropneumonia, heartwater or trypanosomosis are highly relevant in Africa, Asia and Latin America to a lesser extent, and would be a real threat for farmers but also a challenge for scientists. In fact, the next challenge for the international animal health organizations seems to be the eradication of Pest des Petits Ruminants, which has been estimated to be in 2030. The present chapter supposes a state-of-the-art review of the major tropical and subtropical diseases affecting goats with particular emphasis to the control strategies in the fight against them.