A method of accelerated eradication of bovine brucellosis in the Czech Republic.

A method of accelerated eradication of bovine brucellosis was developed and applied in the Czech Republic, where livestock was reared primarily in large-scale units. Before this method was adopted, annual economic losses were about US dollars 20 million and thousands of people were estimated to suffer from brucellosis (e.g. 32.4% of tested veterinarians were positive). Initial mass serological testing confirmed 654 outbreaks with 99,787 intrafocal bovines distributed in half of the regions of the Republic. Disease incidence was 213 with a prevalence of 676 per 100,000 bovines. Systematic investigations detected all affected herds, including 91 new outbreaks. A depopulation policy was applied on farms and ranches with brucellosis-infected cattle, with the aim of totally eradicating the disease by a fixed deadline. Breeding on diseased ranches was temporarily discontinued and affected herds were replaced by healthy cattle from brucellosis-free regions. Since then, the incidence of the disease in cattle and humans has been maintained at level zero. Eradication without recurrence was achieved within five years, without reducing the cattle population, the rate of cattle production, or the income of farmers. Ten years after the eradication of the disease, the cumulative benefit/eradication cost ratio reached 7:1. Post-eradication surveillance has confirmed a brucellosis-free status. The eradication of bovine brucellosis has resulted in an increase in cattle production and trade. By 2000, eradication had averted losses of approximately US dollars 700 million and saved more than two thousand people from becoming affected with this zoonosis.