This manual provides information on the nature of rinderpest and on the principles and strategic options relating to the control and elimination of rinderpest in the event of its being reintroduced in a country that is free of disease and infection. It provides guidelines for individual countries to formulate their national policy on rinderpest control and eradication.

Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a mosquito-borne viral animal disease which causes periodic severe epidemics, principally involving ruminant animals. As well as its severe socio-economic and public health consequences, this serious transboundary animal disease is a major constraint to international livestock trade. This manual provides information on the nature of RVF and options for its prevention, control and elimination. It outlines a suggested national RVF contingency plan, to be modified to suit the circumstances of individual countries, as well as identifying personnel, equipment and other facilities required.

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is one of the most serious transboundary animal diseases. It is a highly contagious viral disease, and may have rapid and unanticipated national and international spread. Although not a very lethal disease for adult animals, it can cause crippling socio-economic consequences, through high production and trade losses. This manual provides information on the nature of FMD and the principles and strategic options for its prevention, control and elimination. Guidelines are provided for individual countries threatened by FMD to formulate their overall national policy on control and eradication of a possible incursion of the disease.

Discover the Global Rinderpest Action Plan (GRAP), an international strategy designed to prevent the re-emergence of rinderpest, safeguarding global livestock and ecosystems. [Author] Rinderpest is the only animal disease that has been globally eradicated. [Author] The greatest risk for rinderpest re-emergence is the release, whether intentional or unintentional, of infectious material from a Rinderpest Holding Facility (RHF) among susceptible animal populations. [Author] The re-emergence of disease would be a global animal health emergency, leading to the loss of global disease freedom and threatening livelihoods, food security, international trade and national economies. [Author] The GRAP is an international operational plan that addresses activities related to the potential re-emergence of rinderpest. [Author] The GRAP applies an emergency management cycle approach to prepare for, prevent, detect, respond to, and recover from a potential re-emergence of rinderpest, and it addresses responsibility for each stage of the cycle at the national, regional/continental, and international levels. [Author] By identifying gaps in preparedness and prioritizing risk mitigation measures, the GRAP enhances global readiness for potential rinderpest re-emergence. [Author] It builds confidence among decision-makers to eliminate remaining virus stocks and strengthens coordination across national, regional, and international levels. [Author] The GRAP's scope encompasses a wide array of stakeholders, including government officials, academics, livestock keepers, and international organizations. [Author] It aims to facilitate coordinated responses to rinderpest outbreaks and assesses readiness levels to address gaps in preparedness. [Author] The plan operates under the assumption that rinderpest virus material remains a risk and underscores the importance of swift eradication in the event of confirmed cases to maintain global rinderpest freedom. [Author]

The benefit of an adequate framework for the management of animal health emergency operations has been repeatedly shown over the years, highlighting a need to build and upgrade capabilities to effectively and efficiently manage animal health emergency operations at all levels. This need can begin to be met through the guidance provided in this manual. Equipped with practical examples, samples and guidelines, this manual supports countries and relevant local, national, regional and international organizations as they prepare for and manage operations during an animal health emergency. The manual is designed to be used in line with the 'Good Emergency Management Practice: The Essentials' manual, applying Good Emergency Management Practice (GEMP) principles and a One Health approach, and providing a global view of how to act during the peacetime and emergency phases of animal health events. This global manual is presented in such a way that veterinary services and relevel local authorities in countries around the world can use the information therein as guidance to create or adapt their own systems, and build a customized emergency operations management manual.

Animal health emergencies are evolving, but they remain among the most challenging situations a country can confront. Infectious diseases and other threats have increasing potential to spread rapidly within a country or around the world due to growing populations, concentration of animal populations and market intensification, human and animal movement, and global trade. This international GEMP Essentials guide is meant to support the advancement of key components of emergency management as countries continue efforts to work and prepare together. It sets out in a systematic way the elements required to achieve an appropriate level of preparedness and proposes an approach to animal health emergency management inclusive of all type of events, be they caused by natural phenomenon, including not infectious events, or by accidental or deliberate human action. The guide also includes the One Health approach.

African swine fever (ASF) is a devastating haemorrhagic viral disease affecting domestic and wild pigs of all ages and sexes. This disease causes massive economic losses, threatens food security and trade, and presents a serious challenge for the pig production sector in affected countries. ASF also threatens the biodiversity conservation of several Asiatic wild Suidae. Since ASF was first introduced in Georgia in 2007, the disease has spread to many countries in Europe, Asia and the Pacific, and in 2021, it was detected in the Caribbean states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti, both in the Americas. In much of its Euro-Asiatic range, the African swine fever virus (ASFV) infects wild boar, which sometimes act as the main – if not the only – epidemiological reservoir of the infection, keeping it in the environment regardless of the presence of infected domestic pigs. The presence of the virus in wild boar populations is a continuous health threat for the sympatric domestic pig population, posing a challenge for veterinary and wildlife services that have had little success in attempting to eradicate infections among wildlife, especially in the absence of an effective vaccine. Finally, areas in which ASFV is detected in wild boar remain infected for at least one year after the last recorded case. This is a much longer period than that of domestic animals and puts a strain on the services involved, requiring a considerable amount of work and human and financial resources. The second edition of the handbook provides insights on surveillance and disease management in wild boar based on experiences with ASFV eradication in Belgium and Czechia, as well as other recent experiences in the prevention and control of the disease in wild boar in Europe.

The highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 strain has spread from domestic poultry to a large number of species of free-ranging wild birds, including non-migratory birds and migratory birds that can travel thousands of kilometers each year. The regular contact and interaction between poultry and wild birds has increased the urgency of understanding wild bird diseases and the transmission mechanisms that exist between the poultry and wild bird sectors, with a particular emphasis on avian influenza. Monitoring techniques, surveillance, habitat use and migration patterns are all important aspects of wildlife and disease ecology that need to be better understood to gain insights into disease transmission between these sectors. This manual contains chapters on the basic ecology of avian influenza and wild birds, capture and marking techniques (ringing, color marking and satellite telemetry), disease sampling procedures, and field survey and monitoring procedures.--Publisher's description.

The Lumpy skin disease (LSD) is a viral disease of cattle that has dramatic effects on rural livelihoods, which strongly dependent on cattle. The disease slashes milk production and may lead sterility in bulls and fertility problems in females. It damages hides, and causes death due to secondary bacterial infections. Although traditionally limited to sub-Saharan Africa, LSD has slowly been invading new territories such as the Middle East and Turkey, and since 2015, most of the Balkan countries, the Caucasus and the Russian Federation, where the disease continues to spread and the risk of an imminent incursion into other unaffected countries, is very high. Veterinarians, cattle farmers, and others along the value chain are facing the disease for first time and are unfamiliar with LSD’s clinical presentation, its transmission routes and the available prevention and control options. This manual aims to fill these gaps by providing veterinary professionals and paraprofessionals with the in formation they need to promptly diagnose and react to an outbreak of LSD. Cattle farmers will also benefit from reading it.