Impacts of Pathogen Introduction Risk on Importer Behavior and Gains from Trade in the Livestock Industry

Trade eliminates geographic barriers, allowing for novel exchange of goods and services, but also creates pathways for the unintentional spread of infectious pathogens such as foot and mouth disease. In the absence of trade regulation, a producer’s choice of import origin depends on relative prices and costs associated with trading partners. This paper develops a framework for exploring importer behavior in a non-regulated economy, allowing for price and risk heterogeneity among potential import sources. In the model, importers determine the risk of introducing foot and mouth disease to home soil and choose import volumes using risk and market data. When importers consider the possibility of unreported or undetected outbreaks, they choose to import from multiple sources to minimize risk and simultaneously create gains from trade over the regulated outcome. Our results have implications for the development of import and inspection policies that could be specifically designed to target highest risk imports of livestock.     

Serological Evidence of Bat SARS-Related Coronavirus Infection in Humans,China

正Dear Editor,Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus(SARSCo V)is the causative agent of the 2002–2003 SARS pandemic,which resulted in more than 8000 human infections worldwide and an approximately 10%fatality rate(Ksiazek et al.2003;Peiris et al.2004).The virus infects both upper airway and alveolar epithelial cells,resulting in mild to severe lung injury in humans(Peiris     

Environmental Change and Zoonotic Disease Risk at Human-Macaque Interfaces in Bangladesh

EcoHealth - Anthropogenic land-use changes increase the frequency of interactions and habitat overlap between humans and macaques which play an important role in zoonotic disease transmission. This...