Animal health care is changing from a curative to a preventive type of approach. At the same time the consumer puts higher demands on the quality of products of animal origin and the quality of the production process. The latter refers for example to animal health and welfare. The control of (often multifactorial) diseases alone is no longer sufficient for safeguarding both farmers' and consumers' interests, and neither is eradication of disease. In the prevention of both animal and public health problems, disease risk control and risk management will play a paramount role.Therefore, there is a need for adequate information and proper data analysis and interpretation, based on the application of quantitative epidemiological methods. Most veterinarians and animal scientists did not have a formal training in these method. And yet these methods should form the basis for the current animals health care strategy. The objective of this book is to teach students, professional veterinarians and animals scientists the proper application of quantitativeepidemiological methods and the sound interpretation of analysis results. Hence, they will be better skilled to support farmers and other participants in the food chain in their decision-making about animal and public health issues. The book focuses on quantitative epidemiological methods through theough theory and elaborated case studies for self-teaching. Additionally, attention is given to aspects related to animal health such as modelling, food hygiene, economics and surveillance systems.

Table of Contents:
Introduction to epidemiology; Current areas of application of epidemiology and perspetives; Principles and methods of sampling in animal disease surveys; Measurement of disease frequency; Basics of observational studies; Multivariate analysis: Logistic regression; Analysis of time at risk (Survival) Data; Veterinary clinical trials; Part I Introduction; Part II The design and conduct of clinical trials; Introduction to theoretical epidemiology; Veterinary epidemiology and foodborne diseases; Part I Food Hygiene: The example of salmonellosis; Part II Applying HACCP principles to animal health care at farm level; Part III Developments in meat inspection systems; Animal health and economics; Part I An Economist's view of anival disease; Part II Economics in the veterinary domain: Further dimensions; Part III Economic aspects of the animal welfare issue; Part IV Analysis techniques commonly used in economics; Monitoring and surveillane systems (MOSS); Part I Design and Operationalization; Part III Cost-Benefit Analysis of a screening strategy for salmonella enteritidis in poultry; Part III Investigation of disease occurrence nad disease control; Part IV Questionnaires for field surveys: Design and conduct;