Antimicrobial usage (AMU) has been described to be high in pig production. Although farmers are aware of the high usage, little is known about intervention to improve the situation. This study evaluated the extent to which AMU could be reduced in pig production by the optimization of herd...

The meticulous revision by taxonomic experts of established alien species in the Mediterranean resulted in a major revision of the list proposed by Galil et al. (2016), with 73 species to be excluded (35 species categorised as non-established and 37 as not true aliens), and 72 species added to the...

This study considered a simple SIR model for the spread of epidemics amongst holdings of a producer community in Northern Germany, based on the directed network of animal movements. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of different control measures to reduce the epidemic size...

The clinical features and economic impact of the infection caused by an emerging group of pestiviruses, namely HoBi-like pestivirus, in a cattle herd of southern Italy are reported. In 2011, the virus was first associated with respiratory disease, causing an abortion storm after 1 year and...

Emerging infectious diseases affect the health of animal and human populations, but the impact goes beyond health as it extends to political, economic, social and environmental domains, as well as inter-state relations. Deeper understanding of these impacts aids public health authorities in their...

Benthic component of an ecosystem is considered in ecological status assessment of the key European Directives. Most of the metrics proposed for the benthic quality assessment are biodiversity based. Their robustness and applicability are widely discussed in many recent studies. However an impact...

Wildfires, increasingly frequent and severe in the Mediterranean countries, can cause serious impacts on ecosystems. As a diffuse source of contaminants - namely inorganic elements (metals, metalloids and non-metallic elements) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) - post-fire runoff may...

The Clean Water Act of 1972 is credited with improving water quality across the USA, although few long-term studies tracking hydrologic, chemical, and biological responses to cleanup efforts exist. The Trinity River of Texas was plagued by poor water quality for more than a century before passage...

Disease prevention through biosecurity measures is believed to be an important factor for improvement of the overall health status in animal production. This study aimed at assessing the levels of implementation of biosecurity measures in pig production in four European Union (EU) countries and to...

Economic evaluations are critical for the assessment of the efficiency and sustainability of animal health surveillance systems and the improvement of their efficiency. Methods identifying and quantifying costs and benefits incurred by public and private actors of passive surveillance systems (i.e. ...