Economic aspects of the control of classical swine fever outbreaks in the European Union

A framework for assessing the economic impact of classical swine fever (CSF) is presented, including an analysis of direct and indirect costs. Direct costs are divided into calculated costs, expenditure on control measures (payable costs) and costs due to financial transfers. The economic impact of current control strategies is described using practical examples. In most cases, the largest part of the direct costs is associated with transport standstill measures, of which approximate to 45% are calculated costs. Alternative strategies, still based on non-vaccination offer a potential for reducing these costs. Various economic aspects of emergency vaccination are described using as an example, a hypothetical optimistic CSF case. In order to explore the impact of applying emergency vaccination using marker vaccines, additional research is required using simulation modelling. This research should include an assessment of risk and uncertainty with respect to calculating the epidemiological impact and the direct costs. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.