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A Comparison of Perceptions of Estonian and Latvian Hunters With Regard to the Control of African Swine Fever

Since the first detected African swine fever (ASF) cases in Lithuanian wild boar in 2014, the virus has occurred in many other member states of the European Union (EU), most recently in Belgium in 2018 and in Germany in 2020. Passive surveillance and various control measures are implemented as part...

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Autores principales: Urner, Nico, Sauter-Louis, Carola, Staubach, Christoph, Conraths, Franz Josef, Schulz, Katja
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8079805/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33937371
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2021.642126
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author Urner, Nico
Sauter-Louis, Carola
Staubach, Christoph
Conraths, Franz Josef
Schulz, Katja
author_facet Urner, Nico
Sauter-Louis, Carola
Staubach, Christoph
Conraths, Franz Josef
Schulz, Katja
author_sort Urner, Nico
collection PubMed
description Since the first detected African swine fever (ASF) cases in Lithuanian wild boar in 2014, the virus has occurred in many other member states of the European Union (EU), most recently in Belgium in 2018 and in Germany in 2020. Passive surveillance and various control measures are implemented as part of the strategy to stop disease spread in the wild boar population. Within this framework, hunters perform important activities, such as the removal of carcasses, fencing or hunting. Therefore, the successful implementation of these measures largely depends on their acceptability by hunters. Methods of participatory epidemiology can be used to determine the acceptance of control measures. The use of participatory methods allows the involvement of key stakeholders in the design, the implementation and the analysis of control and surveillance activities. In the present study, two studies that had been conducted using participatory epidemiology with hunters in Estonia and Latvia were compared on the topics recruitment, participants, facilitators, focus group discussion (FGDs) and their contents. The aim was to evaluate similarities and differences in the two studies and to identify a broader spectrum of possibilities to increase the willingness of hunters supporting the fight against ASF. Evaluating all conducted FGDs in both countries showed primarily similarities in the perceptions and opinions of the hunters in Estonia and Latvia. One notable difference was that passive surveillance in Latvia was perceived mostly as topic of duty and ethics rather than an issue driven by incentives. Participatory methods have proven to be an effective tool in the evaluation of the acceptance of established ASF control systems. The results of this study point out further chances for improving the cooperation with hunters in the future. Nevertheless, the importance of gathering and analyzing the opinions of hunters in all ASF affected countries individually is highlighted.
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spelling pubmed-80798052021-04-29 A Comparison of Perceptions of Estonian and Latvian Hunters With Regard to the Control of African Swine Fever Urner, Nico Sauter-Louis, Carola Staubach, Christoph Conraths, Franz Josef Schulz, Katja Front Vet Sci Veterinary Science Since the first detected African swine fever (ASF) cases in Lithuanian wild boar in 2014, the virus has occurred in many other member states of the European Union (EU), most recently in Belgium in 2018 and in Germany in 2020. Passive surveillance and various control measures are implemented as part of the strategy to stop disease spread in the wild boar population. Within this framework, hunters perform important activities, such as the removal of carcasses, fencing or hunting. Therefore, the successful implementation of these measures largely depends on their acceptability by hunters. Methods of participatory epidemiology can be used to determine the acceptance of control measures. The use of participatory methods allows the involvement of key stakeholders in the design, the implementation and the analysis of control and surveillance activities. In the present study, two studies that had been conducted using participatory epidemiology with hunters in Estonia and Latvia were compared on the topics recruitment, participants, facilitators, focus group discussion (FGDs) and their contents. The aim was to evaluate similarities and differences in the two studies and to identify a broader spectrum of possibilities to increase the willingness of hunters supporting the fight against ASF. Evaluating all conducted FGDs in both countries showed primarily similarities in the perceptions and opinions of the hunters in Estonia and Latvia. One notable difference was that passive surveillance in Latvia was perceived mostly as topic of duty and ethics rather than an issue driven by incentives. Participatory methods have proven to be an effective tool in the evaluation of the acceptance of established ASF control systems. The results of this study point out further chances for improving the cooperation with hunters in the future. Nevertheless, the importance of gathering and analyzing the opinions of hunters in all ASF affected countries individually is highlighted. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-04-14 /pmc/articles/PMC8079805/ /pubmed/33937371 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2021.642126 Text en Copyright © 2021 Urner, Sauter-Louis, Staubach, Conraths and Schulz. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Veterinary Science
Urner, Nico
Sauter-Louis, Carola
Staubach, Christoph
Conraths, Franz Josef
Schulz, Katja
A Comparison of Perceptions of Estonian and Latvian Hunters With Regard to the Control of African Swine Fever
title A Comparison of Perceptions of Estonian and Latvian Hunters With Regard to the Control of African Swine Fever
title_full A Comparison of Perceptions of Estonian and Latvian Hunters With Regard to the Control of African Swine Fever
title_fullStr A Comparison of Perceptions of Estonian and Latvian Hunters With Regard to the Control of African Swine Fever
title_full_unstemmed A Comparison of Perceptions of Estonian and Latvian Hunters With Regard to the Control of African Swine Fever
title_short A Comparison of Perceptions of Estonian and Latvian Hunters With Regard to the Control of African Swine Fever
title_sort comparison of perceptions of estonian and latvian hunters with regard to the control of african swine fever
topic Veterinary Science
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8079805/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33937371
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2021.642126
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