THE NATIONAL SWEDISH ANIMAL DISEASE ... - SciQuest

THE NATIONAL SWEDISH ANIMAL DISEASE RECORDING SYSTEM ULF EMANUELSON*

The first experiments with a disease recording system in Sweden was started in 1971 in three provinces of Sweden. Eleven years after the start and after a tremendous amount of dedicated work by individuals and organizations such as the Department of Animal Hygiene (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences), the National Board of Agriculture, Skara Semin, Swedish Association for Livestock Breeding and Production, and participating veterinarians, an agreement was made between the Swedish Government and the Federation of Swedish Farmers to implement the system in the whole country. From January 1st, 1984, the health monitoring system covers the whole of Sweden. This paper briefly describes the national Swedish animal disease recording system and gives some examples on how it is used.

THE RECORDING SYSTEM The national Swedish disease recording system is governed by an agreement between the National Board of Agriculture (LBS) and the Swedish Association for Livestock Breeding and Production (SHS). LBS is in principle responsible for the recording of the data and some general descriptive reports, while SHS is responsible for the handling of the data, printing forms, pi ' cinq reports to farmers and their organizations and for the epidemiological evaluation. The costs of the system are shared between LBS and SHS. OBJECTIVES The disease recording system was established to provide possibilities for health monitoring on national and local levels, as well as to establish a data bank that could be used for several purposes. More precisely, the objectives of the recording system was to: •

provide information about the health status in the country;

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give farmers a general survey of the treatments performed in the herd;

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make breeding for disease resistance possible;

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serve as a mean to detect herds needing special attention as regards animal health;

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provide a comprehensive material for research on environmental, managemental and genetic effects on diseases;

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facilitate the clerical work for the veterinarian.

*PhD (Agr), veterinary epidemiologist, Swedish Association for Livestock Breeding and Production, S-631 84 Eskilstuna, Sweden

262 Proceedings of the 5th International Symposium on Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics, 1988 Published in Acta Veterinaria Scandinavia, Supplementum 84 Available at www.sciquest.org.nz

PROCEDURES Different ways of recording the diseases were tried during the 1970', using various combinations of the veterinarian, the milk recording technician and the farmer as record-keeper. The most reliable method was when the veterinarian completed a form for each diagnosis, left one copy of the form at the farm, kept one copy for his own record, and sent the original for punching. This method was consequently chosen when the system was implemented in the whole country. The data recorded on each form includes identity of the veterinary surgeon, date of diagnosis, identity of the herd or owner, identity of the animal, and diagnosis. The data on the forms are keyed in at local livestock associations twice a month, checked for inconsistencies and transmitted to a main-frame computer at SHS. The principal animal health data hank contains records from at least 1.5 years and at most 2.5 years. The oldest data is extracted to tape once a year. The diagnoses are recorded according to a code list. The diagnostic list extends to about 100 diagnoses, supplemented by codes identifying the type of visit, i.e. first treatment, retreatment etc. The codes are three-digit numbers grouped according to disease complexes. The diagnostic list can thus easily he expanded to meet future needs, whether for special, temporary investigations or for permanent changes in the diagnoses needed. An important feature of the system is that the identity of farms and animals is recorded in a way that is compatible with other systems. Thus, the milk recording system and the recording of artificial insemination (AI) activities in dairy cattle uses the same identification of farms and animals. The disease recording system is therefore easily amalgamated with other sources of information that are important in order to estimate the population at risk and invaluable for e.g. managemental advisory work and breeding activities. This is further simplified for dairy cattle, since one orgaization (SHS) is reponsible for both milk recording, AI services, and disease recording. It is a duty for every veterinary surgeon to record and report all diagnoses, antibiotic treatments, prescriptions, etc, without exceptions. All species of animals are included in the system, but livestock animals, and especially dairy cattle, has been the major emphasis since they are likely to benefit most of the system.

APPLICATIONS OF THE SYSTEM About 700,000 entries are recorded each year and 50 - 60 % of them refer to individual dairy cattle registered in the official milk recording system and/or using AI. Present Applications A major output from the disease recording system is descriptive statistics including: an annual report from LBS with absolute and relative frequencies on all diagnoses made on pigs and cattle; a report on indidences of different diagnoses for each regional livestock association; annual or semi-annual lists of treatments on individual cows to farms in the official milk recording system. Since 1985 the data bank is used in breeding for increased disease resistance. Breeding values for resistance to mastitis and "other diseases" are esti-


mated for all dairy bulls (Lindhe, 1986; Eriksson & Wretler, 1987). The data bank is also used for different epidemiological studies such as genetic effects on mastitis (Emanuelson, 1987), economic losses due to dystocia (Oltenacu et al, 1988), and risk factors for uterine prolaps (WahlstrOm, 1988). Future Applications A great improvement for farmers in the official milk recording system will be implemented in September, 1988. The farmers will then receive a list on all diagnoses on all cows on the same sheet as the monthly milk yield report. This increased feedback is valuable not only for the farmer, but also for veterinary practitioners and other people involved in managemental advisory work. The rapid development in information and communication technology will certainly change data input and output. Experiments on giving on-line access of the data in the data hank to veterinarians will start this coming autumn. Tests on replacing the manually completed form by an "electronic notepad" will also start within a year. It can be envisaged that the use of the data hank in epidemiological studies will be extensive in the future. Such studies are important, not the least in order to make the disease recordings more usable in herd-health programmes. It may also be valuable in the future to incorporate recordings of treatments made by the farmer in the data bank.

CONCLUSIONS The national Swedish disease recording system has been working without major problems and the data has been made use of to a relatively great extent. However, feedback to the persons who provide the data is most important for a system to be efficient and accurate. This has not been ample enough, but will improve in the future. Furthermore, it must be kept in mind that the present disease data bank is based on recordings of veterinary interventions and not on recordings of actual disease events. Possible implications for the use and interpretation of the data must be remembered, but they may not be aggravating under the strict animal health regulations in Sweden.

REFERENCES Emanuelson, U., (1987). Genetic studies on the epidemiology of mastitis in dairy cattle. Report 73, Dept of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden. Eriksson, J.-A. and Wretler, E. (1987). Sire evaluation for diseases in Sweden. Proc. 38th Ann. Meg EAAP, Lisbon, Portugal, 88. Lindhe. B. (1986). Experiences of disease recording and selection for disease resistance. Proc. Workshop Breeding for Resistance to Diseases in Dairy Cattle, Ames, IA, USA. Oltenacu, P.A., Frick, A. and Lindhe. B. (1988). Use of statistical modelling and desicion analysis to estimate financial losses due to dystocia in Swedish cattle. Proc. 5th ISVEE Symposium, Copenhagen, Denmark. Wahlstrilim, H. (1988). Personal communications.
