Hydatid disease and sheep measles: The history of their control and the economics of a recent change of control policy

Abstract

At the beginning of this century Echinococcus granulosus was a serious problem for human health and sheep production in New Zealand. In 1959 an official control campaign was introduced to control E. granulosus and Taenia hydatigena and in 1970 the control of Taenia ovis was added. From 1972 this campaign included a policy of 6‐weekly dog dosing. Initially this policy was successful against both parasites. However, from about 1976, the prevalence of T.ovis in lambs and dogs began to increase again. In the late 1980s, the control authority decided to uncouple the combined programme. Six‐weekly dosing was retained only for dogs considered to be at risk of infection with E. granulosus. A serological test was introduced to give information on infection of dogs by T. ovis. The economic losses due to these parasites, the costs of controlling them, and the effect of the recent change in control policy are examined.

Keywords:

• Echinococcus granulosus
• hydatid disease
• Taenia ovis
• sheep measles
• control
• economics