Identify risk factors for disease
Meet and work with aquatic animal health specialists from all over the world
Share hands-on experience in epidemiology tools with top experts
Learn about measuring disease frequency and reporting
Update your knowledge on disease surveillance and surveys
Gain deeper insight on outbreak investigation and disease control
Interpret test results
IAMZ-CIHEAM
1. Introduction and basic concepts (1 hour)
1.1. What is epidemiology and its role in aquatic animal health
1.2. Challenges to applying epidemiology in aquaculture
1.3. The epidemiological triad, criteria for causation and causal webs
1.4. Progressive Control Pathway (PCP) approach in biosecurity
2. Measuring disease frequency and reporting (3 hours)
2.1. Measurements of disease frequency
2.1.1. Case definition
2.1.2. Sampling
2.1.3. Estimation of incidence and prevalence
2.1.4. Biases: selection, information and confounding
2.1.5. Reporting confidence of results
2.2. Monitoring morbidity and mortality at the farm level
2.2.1. Questionnaire design
2.2.2. Data storage
2.2.3. Routine analysis
2.2.4. Setting thresholds
3. Disease surveillance (2 hours)
3.1. Purposes of surveillance
3.2. Criteria for listing diseases
3.3. Classification of surveillance systems
3.4. Design of surveillance systems
3.5. International reporting and the role of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE)
3.6. The application of new technology
3.7. Case study: Disease surveillance in Norwegian aquaculture
4. Surveys to demonstrate disease freedom (2 hours)
4.1. Sampling procedures
4.2. Sample size calculation
5. Outbreak investigation and disease control (2 hours)
5.1. Case definition
5.2. Basic techniques
5.2.1. Distinguishing propagating versus point source outbreaks
5.2.1.1. Within-farm investigation: analysis by time, space, age, etc.
5.2.1.2. Investigation of spread between farms: the index case and forward/back tracing
5.3. Minimizing spread of diseases
5.3.1. Defining surveillance and protection zones
5.3.2. Identifying and preventing routes of transmission
6. Interpretation of test results (diagnostic test characteristics) (2 hours)
6.1. Sensitivity and specificity
6.2. The impact of pooling
6.3. Negative and positive predictive values
7. Identifying risk factors for disease (3.5 hours)
7.1. Design of observational studies
7.2. Hypothesis formulation and testing
7.3. Analytical methods
7.3.1. Analysis of 2x2 contingency tables
7.3.2. Stratification
7.3.3. Controlling confounding and interaction
8. MedAID project: epidemiological goals (0.5 hours)
9. Practical work (20 hours)
9.1. Discussions
9.1.1. Open discussion: How does disease impact aquaculture? How can epidemiology improve aquatic animal
health management?
9.1.2. Group discussion: Biosecurity measures and resources to prevent disease introduction and spread
9.2. Interrogation of WAHIS database
9.3. Investigation of a disease outbreak
9.3.1. Analysis of mortality data from a farm outbreak (analysis by time, space, age group)
9.3.2. Forward and back tracing from an index case based on movement and other records
9.4. Assessment of diagnostic tests: calculation of sensitivity, specificity and predictive values
9.5. Designing surveillance to demonstrate disease freedom
9.5.1. Sample size calculation for disease freedom
9.5.2. Interpreting the results of disease surveillance
9.6. Sample size calculation for prevalence estimation
9.7. Calculations of prevalence and incidence
9.8. 2x2 tables and stratified analysis
10. Concluding remarks (1 hour)
The course is designed for 25 participants with a university degree. It is intended for veterinarians and other aquatic animal health professionals, with or without previous formal training in epidemiology, but involved in delivering aquatic animal health services in either the private or public sector.
The course will be held at IAMZ-CIHEAM in Zaragoza from 25 February - 1 March 2019, in morning and afternoon sessions.
Application deadlines:
3 December 2018
The deadline may be extended for candidates not requiring a visa and not applying for a grant if there are free places available.
Registration fees for the course amount to 500 euro. This sum covers tuition fees only.
Candidates from CIHEAM member countries (Albania, Algeria, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Lebanon, Malta, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia and Turkey) and candidates participating in MedAID project may apply for scholarships covering registration fees, or scholarships covering the cost of travel and full board accommodation.
Candidates from other countries who require financial support should apply directly to other national or international institutions.
It is compulsory for participants to have medical insurance valid for Spain. Proof of insurance cover must be given at the beginning of the course. Those who so wish may participate in a collective insurance policy taken out by the Organisation, upon payment of the stipulated sum.
I graduated from the Norwegian School of Veterinary Medicine, Oslo in 1981 with a Dr.scient-degree from 1986 in Animal Nutrition and Immunology, also from Norwegian School of Veterinary Medicine. Specialist in fish diseases from 1994 and a MSc in Veterinary Epidemiology from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine/Royal Veterinary College, London 2001. Approved PVS-assessor by the OIE in 2009.
Between 1988 and 1996, I worked as Fish Health Veterinarian and Manager of a Fish Health Service for fish farmers before I joined the Norwegian Veterinary Institute as researcher in epidemiology in 1996. In 2010 the epidemiology section /Veterinary Institute together with Atlantic Veterinary College in Canada established OIE Collaborating Centre in Epidemiology and Risk Assessment for Aquatic Animal Diseases.
My major scientific activity the last 10-15 years has been in epidemiology and risk assessment for aquatic animal diseases, specifically related to farmed salmon. I have participated in various EU/EFSA/OIE ad hoc groups, research projects, and as team member for OIE-PVS evaluations (special focus on Aquatic Animal Health). In 2017 I became WP-leader of the Horizon 2020 -funded project MedAid, (on Mediterranean Aquaculture Integrated Development) a four-year project. The goal of MedAID is to increase the overall competitiveness and sustainability of the Mediterranean marine fish-farming sector, throughout the whole value chain. Since 2017 I have been involved in a project to establishing fish health service in Ghana.
In 2006 I became the head of Epidemiology section at the Norwegian Veterinary Institute and since 2010 co-director for the OIE collaborating Centre on Epidemiology and Risk Assessment for Aquatic Animal Diseases. In June 2018, I took over as the leader of The Fish Health Department at the Norwegian Veterinary Institute.
Charles is a trained veterinarian from France and MSc and PhD from Canada in aquatic animal health. He is also a member of the Epidemiology Chapter of the Australia & New-Zealand College of Veterinary Sciences. Currently, he is a Senior Lecturer in veterinary epidemiology at the School of Animal & Veterinary Sciences (The University of Adelaide, Australia). For more than 10 years, Charles conducts research, consulting, and training in aquatic epidemiology in Australia and internationally. He worked on disease investigation and surveillance, production optimisation, and policy making in variety aquatic farming systems across large range of finfish, crustaceans, molluscs and reptiles. In 2015, Charles was awarded the prestigious Emerging Scientist Award of the International Society in Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics (ISVEE).
Dr Ignacio de Blas is Bachelor in Veterinary Sciences and PhD in Animal Health by the Veterinary Faculty of the Universidad de Zaragoza (Spain). He is Senior Lecturer of the Department of Animal Pathology. Veterinary Faculty of the Universidad de Zaragoza and he is the responsible of the subject Epidemiology and Biostatistics. He is one of the developers of Win Episcope, WinEpi and other epidemiological software. He is coauthor of 90 papers in indexed journals and he has been coadvisor of 21 PhD thesis.
He is Diplomate of the European College of Aquatic Animal Health. He also works in the Laboratory of Fish Diseases of the Universidad de Zaragoza, that is an authorized laboratory for diagnosis of fish diseases in Aragón and other regions. The activity of the laboratory is related with epidemiological surveillance of fish populations, development and evaluation of antibiotics, probiotics and vaccines for fish, and epidemiological surveys of aquatic animal populations.
As an aquatic veterinary epidemiologist, Dr. Larry Hammell has been the lead proponent on many large, clinical research projects and partnerships with industry and government agencies. Dr. Hammell's research focuses on aquatic food animal health studies including disease detection and surveillance, health management through identification of risk factors and disease prevention and biosecurity studies, and clinical trials for improved responses to disease treatment and prevention. Currently the Dean (Interim) of the UPEI Faculty of Graduate Studies, he is also Professor and Associate Dean (Graduate Studies & Research) at the Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island, and Co-Director of the Collaborating Centre for Epidemiology and Risk Assessment of Aquatic Animal Diseases (ERAAAD) for the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).
Dr Ed Peeler is a veterinarian who has worked as an epidemiologist, in the UK and overseas, for over 20 years. He led the epidemiology and risk team at the Centre for the Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science from its inception in 2001 until 2012 when he became the group manager for the Aquatic Pests and Pathogens group. His main responsibilities are the provision of advice on aquatic animal health to the UK government, coordination of disease surveillance and contingency planning for exotic disease outbreaks. His research has focused on the application of epidemiology, risk analysis and economics to support the development of aquatic animal health policy. Currently, he is leading a programme to develop aquatic animal health capacity in the Omani Ministry of Agriculture. Edmund has been a member of EU, European Food Standards Authority and World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) committees and panels. He is a former president of the Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics (SVEPM) and is currently serving a second term as vice-president of the OIE Aquatic Animal Health Standards Commission.
Dr. Saraya Tavornpanich is an epidemiologist and coordinator of the international center for aquatic animal health (NVI-ICAAH) at National Veterinary Institute. Since June 2018, she has assumed the role of co-directing OIE collaborating center in Epidemiology and Risk Assessment in Aquatic Animal Health (ERAAAD). She has strong background in quantitative epidemiology with the emphasis on infectious diseases. Her research involves the use of epidemiological tools for supporting risk-based surveillance and facilitating control and prevention strategies, mainly on diseases affecting aquatic animals. The tools include field evaluation of diagnostic tests without gold standard, cost-effective analysis, spatial epidemiology, evaluation of strategies and complex surveillance system, and modelling of disease dynamics, use of social network analysis and big data analytics in aquaculture. She also collaborates on national and international multidisciplinary projects involving epidemiology of terrestrial and aquatic animal diseases.