Diagnosis and Epidemiology of Animal Diseases in Latin America

Support for scientists and their endeavours in developing countries by the Joint FAO/IAEA Division is provided through FAO/IAEA Co-ordinated Research Programme (CRP) and IAEA Technical Co-operation Projects (TCPs). Using these mechanisms the Animal Production and Health Section of the Joint FAO/IAEA Division aims to encourage and improve the capacity of national institutions in developing countries to identify and resolve problems connected with improving livestock productivity and health. In 1986, the Section introduced an animal health component into its programme. The initial support was for five years but in 1991 this was extended for a further three years and linked with the support available from the IAEA's Technical Co-operation Programme through national and regional TCPs and ARCAL activities in Latin America dealing with diagnosis of animal diseases. Central to this overall programme was the use of ELISA for the diagnosis and control of livestock diseases. FAO/IAEA CRPs are developed around a well defined research topic on which between 15 and 20 national institutes collaborate the topic itself being defined through consultation with national authorities in developing and developed countries and international agricultural research centers and organizations. The primary role of the Joint FAO/IAEA Division in such programmes is to ensure that the inputs and efforts under these Programmes are co-ordinated and that the results are published. The studies being reported in this IAEA TECDOC were initiated in 1991 and whilst the focus was on three major disease affecting livestock in the region (foot and mouth disease, brucellosis and babesiosis) the approach taken by individual Research Contract holders was different and thus in some cases research concentrated on assay validation whilst in other cases the focus was on the disease itself and its importance within the country in question. Although this publication contains details of research work conducted under two CRPs, the papers are essentially a compilation of data presented at final Research Co-ordination Meetings (RCM) of the two CRPs, held in Guadeloupe, Lesser Antilles, June 1994 and in Vienna, Austria, April 1997.