Development of a decision support system for trypanocidal drug control of bovine trypanosomosis in Africa

During this century livestock production has increased massively through th e improved ability to diagnose, treat, control and prevent certain diseases . Despite these advances, disease remains a major constraint to livestock p roduction and welfare throughout the world. In many instances, this is a re sult of failure to properly apply methods that are already available. Tryps Chemo is an expert system that attempts to aid the application of veterinar y knowledge to disease management. It has been designed to maximise the eff ectiveness and cost efficiency of the different trypanocidal drug regimens currently available for prophylaxis and treatment of tsetse-transmitted bov ine trypanosomosis in Africa. This paper describes the design of TrypsChemo , the properties of the system, and illustrates how it can be used to suppo rt decision making for trypanocidal drug control. The system is currently u ndergoing a structured evaluation by potential users in Africa. (C) 1999 El sevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.