Biosecurity, Epidemiology and Food Safety for Veterinary Technologists

Veterinary epidemiology is the scientific discipline which provides the tools to improve and maintain the health and welfare of animals by taking a 'population approach' to disease control. Investigating, understanding, measuring and reporting the way that diseases persist and spread in populations are the first steps to reducing, controlling or eliminating the risk of ill health. All of these activities constitute the strategies used by epidemiologists to protect animal and human populations from the effects of uncontrolled diseases. Consequently, epidemiologists are the leaders of scientific teams responsible for local, regional, national or global biosecurity and for managing responses to disease outbreaks. This course will provide the student of animal health management with the basic tools and skills to embark on a career dedicated to improving animal health and welfare and to the protection of the health and economies of human societies by taking a population approach to understanding the existence and persistence of disease.



Veterinary Public Health embraces the diagnosis, surveillance, epidemiology, control, prevention and elimination of zoonoses and of diseases that threaten food security and social cohesion; protection of food (including meat and milk) for human consumption; food and meat science; environmental protection; animal welfare standards; and the social, behavioural and mental aspects of human-animal relationships.



Veterinary Biosecurity is intrinsically linked to Veterinary Public Health and covers specific aspects on disease prevention, disease surveillance at the national, regional, state and enterprise (farm) level and include notifiable, zoonotic, emergency animal and transboundary diseases.