Derivation of the economic value of R₀ for macroparasitic diseases and application to sea lice in salmon.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Macroparasites, such as ticks, lice, and helminths, are a concern in livestock and aquaculture production, and can be controlled by genetic improvement of the host population. Genetic improvement should aim at reducing the rate at which parasites spread across the farmed population. This rate is determined by the basic reproduction ratio, i.e. [Formula: see text], which is the appropriate breeding goal trait. This study aims at providing a method to derive the economic value of [Formula: see text].

Methods

Costs of a disease are the sum of production losses and expenditures on disease control. Genetic improvement of [Formula: see text] lowers the loss-expenditure frontier. Its economic effect depends on whether the management strategy is optimized or not. The econ

SUBMITTER: Janssen K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6171287 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature