The use of a systematic review methodology of scientific publication databases for better tailored surveillance of zoonotic and wildlife-transmitted diseases of livestock

There is a growing need to develop better methods to objectively and rapidly assess the relative importance of animal diseases in
different regions, the species affected and the trend over time. These methods will help to inform the better development and
refining of surveillance, prevention and control strategies. A number of different sources of animal health information exist, i.e.,
official reporting, the media and scientific publications (Figure 1), all complementary, but subjected to their own biases and limitations.
We developed a new methodology to use scientific publications to assess the status of animal diseases, which was applied
to two contexts, namely diseases transmitted from livestock to humans (livestock zoonoses), and diseases at the wildlife-livestock
interface.