Associations of veterinary services and farmer characteristics with the prevalences of brucellosis and border disease in small ruminants in Spain

We investigated the farm factors associated with the prevalences of brucell osis and border disease (BD) in small-ruminant herds in the Madrid region o f Spain. These infections were used as models of diseases of well-known and totally unknown distribution, respectively, to assess the association betw een the perception of the importance of a given disease on the relative con tributions of veterinary services and the farmer's attitudes to its prevent ion. Sera, farming-management information and data concerning veterinary as sistance and farmer characteristics were collected from 60 sheep or goat he rds. The overall sere-prevalence of brucellosis was 5.7% (complement fixati on) and for ED was 17.9% (ELISA test). The relationship between sere-positi vity and the variables in the questionnaire was assessed by multivariable a nalysis using random-effects logistic-normal regression. 'Availability of v eterinary services' was a major protective factor for brucellosis. In contr ast, no association with veterinary services was observed for ED, whereas ' membership in a farmers' organization' (a variable associated with good far ming practice and animal care) was a protective factor. 'Membership of a fa rmers' organisation' and two other farmer variables indicative of good husb andry ('youth' and 'schooling') were associated with a lower sere-prevalenc e of brucellosis in univariable analysis but they did not remain significan t in the multivariable model. Our observations suggest that veterinary-acti vity variables predominate over non-specific protective farm factors relate d to good husbandry in the case the disease is subject to disease surveilla nce. This underscores the importance of organized control programs for vete rinary services to be effective in terms of animal disease prevention. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.