Past, present, and future of veterinary epidemiology and economics: One health, many challenges, no silver bullets

Abstract

Epidemiological methods are applied in veterinary science to investigate the dynamics, frequency, and determinants of diseases in populations of veterinary interest. This information is subsequently used to manipulate such determinants, with the ultimate objective of preventing, mitigating, or eliminating the impact of disease in susceptible populations (1). Because, for a given population-health problem, there are typically a number of alternative interventions available, economics, the science of making choices (2), is inherently related to veterinary epidemiology.