The objective of this study was to explore the epidemiological and economic consequences of different control strategies against CSF under typical Danish conditions with respect to herd demographics and geography. Another objective was to investigate the effect of extra biosecurity measures on farms. Based on this simulation study, it is concluded that the strategy consisting of the minimum control measures required by the EU plus depopulation of contact herds is the most effective among the evaluated strategies with respect to limiting the size, duration and cost of the epidemic. However, regarding the number of culled animals, the vaccination-to-live strategies appear to be more effective. Epidemics become larger and last longer if the index case is a nucleus herd. This implies that biosecurity in nucleus herds is extremely important to avoid transmission of CSF to these herds. Simulations showed that the size and duration of a Danish CSF epidemic will be moderate in most cases. However, for some iterations, long-lasting and large epidemics were observed. Irrespective of the size and duration, an epidemic is expected to be very costly due to
export losses.

For more information the full article can be found at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01675877