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Summary: Animal viral diseases in Latin American countries are studied in the light of the growing economic dependence between industrialized countries and countries producing raw materials, including animal pro tein. Viral diseases contribute to create the status of underdevelopment but may also be consequences of this status. The history of the livestock industry in Latin America, where viral diseases were introduced with the importation of breeding animals from various countries of the world, illustrates this economic dependence. The negative effects of animal viral diseases on development are felt on the animal capital itself by causing the animal's death or by constrai ning its reproductive capability, and on the production rates in terms of growth, lactation, fecundity and food conversion efficiency, which may be aggravated by nutritional deficiencies. The impact of viral diseases on foreign trade is also very important, mostly because of animal health restrictions based on endemic foot and mouth disease in South America. On the other hand, industrialized coun tries are less and less dependent on their former suppliers of foodstuffs and have implemented protectionist policies as they have progressively dominated the world market for agricultural and livestock products. Finally, the development of the livestock industry in Latin America is hampered by a low capability for prevention of viral diseases (weak ness of epidemiologic al surveillance mechanisms, absence or lack of a suitable number of adequate diagnostic laboratories), which facilitates the introduction of exotic viral diseases into this region. Systematic pro grammes for the prevention of exotic diseases and the control of exis ting ones should be developed. |
