A systemic approach to assess the potential and risks of wildlife culling for infectious disease control
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Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The maintenance of infectious diseases requires a sufficient number of susceptible hosts. Host culling is a potential control strategy for animal diseases. However, the reduction in biodiversity and increasing public concerns regarding the involved ethical issues have progressively challenged the use of wildlife culling. Here, we assess the potential of wildlife culling as an epidemiologically sound management tool, by examining the host ecology, pathogen characteristics, eco-sociological contexts, and field work constraints. We also discuss alternative solutions and make recommendations for the appropriate implementation of culling for disease control.
Date Issued
2020-07-07
Date Acceptance
2020-04-15
Citation
Communications Biology, 2020, 3
ISSN
2399-3642
Publisher
Nature Research (part of Springer Nature)
Journal / Book Title
Communications Biology
Volume
3
Copyright Statement
© 2020 The Author(s). Open Access. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Sponsor
Medical Research Council (MRC)
Grant Number
MR/R015600/1
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Biology
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Life Sciences & Biomedicine - Other Topics
Science & Technology - Other Topics
CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE
BADGER MELES-MELES
CLASSICAL SWINE-FEVER
BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS-CONTROL
CRITICAL COMMUNITY SIZE
WHITE-TAILED DEER
MYCOBACTERIUM-BOVIS
LARGE-SCALE
POPULATION-DENSITY
MOUTH-DISEASE
Animal Culling
Animals
Animals, Wild
Communicable Disease Control
Communicable Diseases
Conservation of Natural Resources
Ecology
Risk Assessment
Animals
Animals, Wild
Communicable Diseases
Risk Assessment
Ecology
Conservation of Natural Resources
Communicable Disease Control
Animal Culling
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
353
Date Publish Online
2020-07-07