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Additional file 1: Figure S1. Yearly variation of the mean abundance for each country. The abundance (y axis) was calculated as the mean all the observations (log transformed) from each country. Figure S2. QQ-plots of the residuals per month for the Obsoletus ensemble. Figure S3. QQ-plots of the residuals per month for the Pulicaris ensemble. Figure S4. Comparison of the abundance maps for each month using Random Forest (RF) and Interpolations for the Obsoletus ensemble. a Maps from January to June. b maps from July to December. Figure S5. Comparison of the abundance maps for each month using Random Forest (RF) and Interpolations for the Pulicaris ensemble. a Maps from January to June. b Maps from July to December. Figure S6. Comparison of the abundance maps for each month using Random Forest (RF) and Interpolations for Culicoides imicola. a Maps from January to June. b Maps from July to December. Figure S7. At a local scale, interpolation maps produce a smother surface between the farms compared to environmental driven RF, for which the predictions differ between adjacent pixels. The example shown in the figure corresponds to the August maps for the Obsoletus ensemble. Green dots: farms used for training, purple dots: farms within the test set.

International audience; Wild boars and domestic pigs belong to the same species (Sus scrofa). When sympatric populations of wild boars, feral pigs, and domestic pigs share the same environment, interactions between domestic and wild suids (IDWS) are suspected to facilitate the spread and maintenance of several pig pathogens which can impact on public health and pig production. However, information on the nature and factors facilitating those IDWS are rarely described in the literature. In order to understand the occurrence, nature, and the factors facilitating IDWS, a total of 85 semi-structured interviews were implemented face to face among 25 strict farmers, 20 strict hunters, and 40 hunting farmers in the main traditional pig-farming regions of Corsica, where IDWS are suspected to be common and widespread. Different forms of IDWS were described: those linked with sexual attraction of wild boars by domestic sows (including sexual interactions and fights between wild and domestic boars) were most frequently reported (by 61 and 44% of the respondents, respectively) in the autumn months and early winter. Foraging around common food or water was equally frequent (reported by 60% of the respondents) but spread all along the year except in winter. Spatially, IDWS were more frequent in higher altitude pastures were pig herds remain unattended during summer and autumn months with limited human presence. Abandonment of carcasses and carcass offal in the forest were equally frequent and efficient form of IDWS reported by 70% of the respondents. Certain traditional practices already implemented by hunters and farmers had the potential to mitigate IDWS in the local context. This study provided quantitative evidence of the nature of different IDWS in the context of extensive commercial outdoor pig farming in Corsica and identified their spatial and temporal trends. The identification of those trends is useful to target suitable times and locations to develop further ecological investigations of IDWS at a finer scale in order to better understand diseases transmission patterns between populations and promote adapted management strategies.

Wild boars and domestic pigs belong to the same species (Sus scrofa). When sympatric populations of wild boars, feral pigs, and domestic pigs share the same environment, interactions between domestic and wild suids (IDWS) are suspected to facilitate the spread and maintenance of several pig pathogens which can impact on public health and pig production. However, information on the nature and factors facilitating those IDWS are rarely described in the literature. In order to understand the occurrence, nature, and the factors facilitating IDWS, a total of 85 semi-structured interviews were implemented face to face among 25 strict farmers, 20 strict hunters, and 40 hunting farmers in the main traditional pig-farming regions of Corsica, where IDWS are suspected to be common and widespread. Different forms of IDWS were described: those linked with sexual attraction of wild boars by domestic sows (including sexual interactions and fights between wild and domestic boars) were most frequently reported (by 61 and 44% of the respondents, respectively) in the autumn months and early winter. Foraging around common food or water was equally frequent (reported by 60% of the respondents) but spread all along the year except in winter. Spatially, IDWS were more frequent in higher altitude pastures were pig herds remain unattended during summer and autumn months with limited human presence. Abandonment of carcasses and carcass offal in the forest were equally frequent and efficient form of IDWS reported by 70% of the respondents. Certain traditional practices already implemented by hunters and farmers had the potential to mitigate IDWS in the local context. This study provided quantitative evidence of the nature of different IDWS in the context of extensive commercial outdoor pig farming in Corsica and identified their spatial and temporal trends. The identification of those trends is useful to target suitable times and locations to develop further ecological investigations of IDWS at a finer scale in order to better understand diseases transmission patterns between populations and promote adapted management strategies.

La veille en santé animale, et notamment la détection précoce d'émergences au niveau mondial d'agents pathogènes, est l'un des moyens permettant de prévenir l'introduction en France de dangers sanitaires (Paquet et al., 2006). Cet article présente une plateforme dédiée à la collecte de données (dépêches) utiles pour la veille automatique. Le recueil des dépêches s'appuie sur des requêtes constituées de mots-clés de maladies, d'hôtes et de symptômes appliquées à Google News. Une interface Web a été développée pour consulter les articles collectés et paramétrer le processus de recueil en définissant de nouvelles combinaisons de mots-clés.

If wildlife is considered as a renewable natural resource, for many rural Africans the occurrence of human wildlife conflict (HWC) overshadows expected outcomes from conservation and co-management initiatives. To reduce the magnitude of HWC, modern approaches deal with problem animals that cause conflicts while increasing the level of tolerance in the affected human populations. Assessing the local impact of HWC is part of this mitigation package, the objective been to provide timely information to adapt strategies and actions as data indicates what works and why. Lack of communication and trust between wildlife authorities and people concerned by HWC makes the effectiveness of the reporting poor, which raises the question of selecting the most appropriate technology for a real-time monitoring scheme with the capacity to inform decision-makers and improve the understanding of conflicts. To explore the feasibility of HWC monitoring, a series of tests was conducted in central Africa with KoBoCollect, an application from the KoBoToolbox an open source of tools for data collection and analysis based on OpenDataKit. With this application, data were collected using Smartphone on and off-line then synchronized into a database. Involving a regional HWC working group the 5W&H method was chosen to develop data trees of the key information needed to understand HWC problems. The 30+ variables were selected to develop an electronic form and responses to questions been facilitated by multiple choice responses with checkbox options. After a 9 month field test from April to December 2015, more than 300 electronic submissions were collected from Congo (42%), DRC (28%), Gabon (19%) and Cameroun (7%). Not surprisingly the elephant is the species most often involved in HWC (51%) followed by the hippo (11%) and rodents (11%), the other 11 species involved in HWC playing a minor role. If human casualties were rare (2%), the most predominant impact was crop raiding (82%). Mitigation measures were assessed according to the set of solutions of an existing HWC toolbox. Only making noise (33%) or fire (26%) appeared to be solutions mainly applied by local communities. Tested also to monitor hunting pressure in the same region KoBoCollect appears to be an easy to use tool to collect data at low cost in remote areas but questions remain on how to promote and popularize such an approach to fulfill management needs at landscape, national and regional levels. (Texte intégral)

Timeliness and precision for detection of infectious animal disease outbreaks from the information published on the web is crucial for prevention against their spread. We propose a generic method to enrich and extend the use of different expressions as queries in order to improve the acquisition of relevant disease related pages on the web. Our method combines a text mining approach to extract terms from corpora of relevant disease outbreak documents, and domain expert elicitation (Delphi method) to propose expressions and to select relevant combinations between terms obtained with text mining. In this paper we evaluated the performance as queries of a number of expressions obtained with text mining and validated by a domain expert and expressions proposed by a panel of 21 domain experts. We used African swine fever as an infectious animal disease model. The expressions obtained with text mining outperformed as queries the expressions proposed by domain experts. However, domain experts proposed expressions not extracted automatically. Our method is simple to conduct and flexible to adapt to any other animal infectious disease and even in the public health domain.

The Caribbean is a complex region particularly vulnerable for animal and zoonotic disease emergence and spread. Situated along migratory birds' flyways, the region is at high risk of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) strains introduction from North America, where HPAI emerged early 2015. This threat is important in the Caribbean, as poultry production is the most rapidly growing subsector, and some countries have the capacity to be self-sustaining in poultry meat production. Though animal health surveillance is implemented in the countries, the collection of georeferenced data, their management and their analysis is poorly developed, and not fit for epidemiological studies or risk mapping. We aim to provide the official veterinary services (VS) with tools to alleviate the lack of manpower, competence and databases as well as gaps in geographic detail, as evidenced by preliminary surveillance network assessments conducted in the region in 2008-12. The tools are developed along with the regional HPAI surveillance by the Caribbean Animal Health Network (CaribVET). Methods: A Caribbean Veterinary Information System (C-VIS) is being developed to optimize collection and systematic organization of georeferenced data using smartphones or tablets, ensuring homogenous data collection and topographic integrity. It will use open source software such as KoboToolbox®, QGIS® and VECMAP ®. Online data storage and sharing will be provided by a GeoNetwork platform. An educational programme has been planned to increase basic knowledge on GIS through a monthly newsletter and the organization of regional workshops. Results: A protocol has been developed to formalize the regional organization of the data collection, centralization, analysis and reporting at the regional level. Conclusions: These tools will be integrated in the regional early warning systems for the surveillance of HPAI and other emerging diseases with a similar epidemiology, such as West Nile or Saint Louis encephalitis. It will also provide opportunities to develop the national GIS capacities. Relevance: The technology and know-how can be transferred to other developing regions with limited resources. (Texte intégral)

La veille en santé animale, et notamment la détection précoce d'émergences au niveau mondial d'agents pathogènes, est l'un des moyens permettant de prévenir l'introduction en France de dangers sanitaires (Paquet et al., 2006). Dans ce contexte, cet article présente une plateforme dédiée à la veille automatique allant du recueil des données textuelles (dépêches) jusqu'à la restitution synthétique des informations extraites.

La performance de la vigilance des maladies exotiques est étroitement dépendante de la rapidité avec laquelle les données pertinentes sont détectées, transmises, validées, analysées, interprétées, puis restituées aux acteurs de terrain. Le système d'information est donc l'un des points critique de la vigilance et l'avènement des nouvelles technologies apparaît à même d'augmenter notablement sa performance. L'apport des nouvelles technologies peut être apprécié en analysant plusieurs attributs de la performance d'un système d'information en santé animale : disponibilité, standardisation, rapidité, acceptabilité, fiabilité, sécurité et partageabilité. Les exemples de la surveillance de la fièvre West Nile en Camargue et des vecteurs de la fièvre catarrhale ovine viennent appuyer l'intérêt de l'utilisation des nouvelles technologies pour la surveillance.

Timeliness and precision in detecting exotic animal infectious disease outbreaks is crucial for preventing their spread. In 2013, the French national platform for animal disease surveillance has set up an international epidemiological intelligence team (so-called VSI team) aiming at detecting, verifying and monitoring signals of disease emergence from different sources of information, including the Internet. We propose an innovative method for monitoring disease emergence on the Internet. It is based on 3sequential steps:1) web crawling,2) automatic classification of disease outbreak documents by machine learning approaches,3) extraction of information from documents(e.g., disease, number of cases, location, etc.).To query the web, the choice of relevant terms is crucial. For this purpose, we used text mining together with a collective domain expertise following a Delphi method. This approach allowed highlighting the relevant terms to detect signals of disease emergence on the Internet. We have applied it to detect documents addressing African swine fever (ASF) outbreaks(i.e. 123 dispatches from Google, and 45 from PubMed) written in English language, obtained for the period 2011-2014 with the baseline query “African swine fever outbreak”. Based on 2400 terms extracted with the text-mining approach, our automatic search system associated with the collective domain expertise (i.e. evaluation of 20 groups of terms by 21 specialists) identified 3 groups of highly specific terms to detect signals of ASF emergence:1) haemorrhagic fever in Suidae, 2) mortality in Suidae and 3) swine fever. Implemented as complex queries, these groups of terms allowed finding previously undetected ASF outbreak articles with the baseline query (period 2011-14):3for each of groups 1 and 2, vs.54 for group 3.Monitoring disease emergence on the Internet is a promising method towards improved disease introduction risk assessment. Nevertheless, domain experts still play a central role. Our method is generic: we intend to evaluate it on data from other exotic infectious diseases and with real-time data stream. Should this evaluation be successful, the method might be routinely used by the VSI team. (Texte intégral)

Un réseau de surveillance entomologique (160 pièges) des populations de Culicoides a été en activité entre 2009 et 2012 en France continentale suite à la transmission du virus de la fièvre catarrhale ovine (FCO). Nous présentons ici la diversité et la dynamique des Culicoides sur l'ensemble du territoire en 2012 en regard des années précédentes. L'accent est mis sur les cartes de période d'inactivité vectorielle synthétisant les résultats 2009-2012.

Suite à l'émergence de la fièvre catarrhale ovine (FCO) en Europe, la règlementation européenne a imposé la mise en place de dispositifs de suivi des vecteurs. En France, le suivi des populations de Culicoides a démarré en 2001 et concerne depuis 2009 l'ensemble du territoire métropolitain (160 pièges). Près de deux millions de Culicoides, appartenant à au moins 72 espèces, ont été collectés en 2011. En effet, l'année 2011 a connu un automne aux températures particulièrement clémentes, entraînant des abondances exceptionnelles de ces insectes en octobre et novembre. En France, dans la zone tempérée proprement dite, le complexe Obsoletus domine largement, associé à Culicoides dewulfi et Culicoides chiopterus sur le littoral de la Manche, associé pratiquement qu'uniquement à C. chiopterus dans le nord-est, et globalement seul dans les autres zones sauf localement. En Corse, le complexe Obsoletus peut devenir secondaire par rapport à Culicoides imicola, qui présente des populations très importantes, en particulier dans le sud. Enfin, sur le littoral méditerranéen, c'est Culicoides newsteadi qui est l'espèce dominante. L'organisation du dispositif de piégeage pourrait être modifiée en fonction de l'évolution récente de la réglementation européenne, qui simplifie les exigences minimales en matière de suivi et de surveillance de la FCO.

The genus Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) encompass more than 1,300 biting midge species in the world with approximately 60 species being implicated in pathogens transmission. Since the last decade the spread of several serotypes of bluetongue virus throughout western Europe and around Mediterranean basin, and recently the emergence of the Schmallenberg virus have pointed out the lack of entomological taxonomic expertise including an updated morphological key, able to discriminate vector species among the Culicoides diversity. IIKC, interactive identification key for Culicoides, is a database of taxonomic knowledge edited with the Xper2 software which automatically produces the interactive multi-entry key. Validated by a trial carried out by six entomologists with variable degrees of experience in identifying Culicoides, we presented here an update of IIKC. For each Culicoides species included in IIKC, we have created a distribution map at country scale for the west Palaearctic region. The maps have been added to the specific species datasheet and available at any time of the identification process. Two species C. manchuriensis and C. ibericus recently recorded in France have been added. The updated version includes 100 species and 10 morphological variants, 61 descriptors and 947 pictures, scheme or maps. A dedicated website has been developed (www.iikculicoides. net) and offers the following services to users: (i) browse the database of characters and species online, (ii) identify online without local install, (iii) download and install the key onto personal computer according to the following operating systems available i.e. Windows XP/Vista/7, MacOsX and Linux. The computerization of such a key allows an easy way to add newly recorded species, new species or synonymies, or new discriminant characters. In parallel, the internet released offers the easiest way to share the updates. Initially developed for female biting midges because of their epidemiological importance, the main perspective is to include a male morphological database to produce an interactive key for both sexes. The extension of IIKC through the Palaearctic region as a whole feels practically an achievable perspective, as well as for others biogeographical regions. (Texte intégral)

In response to the bluetongue outbreaks in 2000 and to the establishment in Corsica of the Afrotropical biting midge species, Culicoides imicola, a monitoring program coordinated by the Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement (Cirad) was set up by the Ministère de l'Alimentation, de l'agriculture et de la pêche (French Agricultural Ministry). Since 2009, trapping was carried out at 160 locations dispersed over the French departments. The selected sites were farms with ruminants (ovine, bovine or goats), and traps were deployed close to animal herds. The main objectives were to gain better insight in the distribution and dynamics of species of the genus Culicoides in France and to determine the Culicoides vector-free period. Black-light traps were run for one night every week in spring and autumn (from February to April and from October to December) and one night every month (black moon week) in summer and winter (from May to September and in January). Captured Culicoides were identified morphologically and the numbers of parous and nulliparous females for each species were recorded. From January to December 2009, a total of 1 036 540 Culicoides, belonging to at least 69 species were trapped. A new species for the French fauna has been recorded, C. abchazicus. The most abundant species representing 70% of the total catch was the Obsoletus complex, C. obsoletus/scoticus, followed by the Newsteadi group (10% of the total catch). First biting midge specimens were caught late February in southwest France. The following weeks showed spatial dynamics following a southwest-northeast gradient with a peak middle April. Then a slight reduction is observed followed by another peak in May and June. A late peak was observed early October. In conclusion, wide-area and long term entomological surveillance allows the establishment of correlations between species distribution, population dynamics and climatic and ecological factors for a better understanding of vector presence and dynamics (Texte intégral)

La région de l'océan indien est une zone de migrations et d'échanges depuis longtemps entres les continents et les îles ou entre les îles. Aujourd'hui, l'intensification des transports, de plus en plus rapides, d'hommes et de marchandises est associée à l'émergence de maladies, en particulier vectorielles, par l'introduction d'hôtes ou/et de vecteurs infectés. Le sud-ouest de l'océan Indien - composé des côtes africaines, de Madagascar et d'archipels d'îles plus petites - est donc un lieu privilégié pour l'étude de l'introduction et de l'émergence des maladies vectorielles, d'autant que l'insularité est souvent associée à une biodiversité toute particulière. La fièvre de la vallée du Rift (FVR) est une zoonose transmise principalement au sein des populations animales par la piqûre de moustiques, et à l'homme par manipulation ou contact avec des tissus, du sang ou d'autres liquides biologiques de bétail infectieux. La FVR a été responsable d'épizooties et d'épidémies dévastatrices, comme en 1978, le long du Nil (200 000 personnes infectées, environ 600 morts recensés), avec en 2007 et 2008, des épisodes importants de transmissions en Afrique de l'Est, s'étendant à Madagascar, puis à l'Archipel des Comores. En 2008, la circulation du virus est confirmée à Mayotte (tests biologiques positifs chez des résidents mahorais et séroprévalence de 10,5 % chez les ruminants domestiques). En 2009, 2 cas humains sont détectés. Les études montrent que le virus de la FVR peut être transmis par un grand nombre d'espèces de moustiques appartenant à différents genres. La compétence vectorielle ne semblant pas être un facteur limitant, les facteurs écologiques doivent donc être déterminants pour la transmission. Afin de comprendre les mécanismes d'émergence et l'épidémiologie de la FVR sur l'île de Mayotte, une étude a été mise en place pour deux ans (2010-2012) pour déterminer la diversité, la dynamique, les préférences trophiques et le taux d'infection des espèces de moustiques présents dans 5 élevages représentant différentes zones éco-climatiques. Des collectes par pièges lumineux et au CO2 ainsi que des prospections larvaires sont effectuées toutes les 4 semaines, pendant 3 nuits consécutives, sur chacun des 5 sites d'études afin de déterminer la diversité et la dynamique saisonnière des moustiques. De plus, sur l'un des sites, des captures de 24 heures sur appâts homme, mouton et chèvre sont réalisées toutes les 8 semaines pour confirmer leurs préférences trophiques et déterminer le rythme circadien. Les femelles sont mises en lot et conservées à - 80 °C pour recherche virale. Actuellement, une année complète de suivi a été réalisée permettant de lister les espèces présentes dans les élevages, de décrire leurs préférences trophiques ainsi que leurs dynamiques journalière et saisonnière. Ces informations, couplées aux données de la littérature concernant leur compétence vectorielle, permettent de lister les vecteurs potentiels de virus de la FVR à Mayotte. (Texte intégral)

La fièvre catarrhale ovine a émergé en Europe méditerranéenne en 1998 et dans le reste de l'Europe en 2006, avec des conséquences sanitaires et économiques désastreuses. La réglementation européenne impose la surveillance de la maladie et de ses vecteurs, les Culicoides. Une telle surveillance a démarré sur le littoral méditerranéen français et en Corse en 2001, et concerne depuis 2009 l'ensemble du territoire métropolitain. Les piégeages effectués permettent de réaliser un inventaire des espèces de Culicoides, de déterminer leur distribution et leur dynamique saisonnière et d'identifier les dates de début et de fin de l'activité des populations. Le bilan de la surveillance entomologique conduite en 2010 est exposé dans le présent article.

ln 2006, bluetongue virus (BTV) outbreaks appeared surprisingly in northern Europe and widely affected most European countries. Correct identification of Culicoides species, is a key component of BTV vector studies. BTV epidemiology in Europe remains complicated in particular with the sympatric distribution of two sibling species, C. obsoletus and C. scoticus, which are suspected to be BTV vectors and may differ in their vector competence. ;,Our objectives were to develop new morphological and molecular identification tools for Culicoides. A cornputer-based system Xper2 was used to develop an Interactive Identification Key (IIKC) for female Culicoides from the West Palearctic region on morphological characters. Based on molecular data, 'a quantitative PCR assay has been designed to estimate the abundance of C. obsoletus and C. scoticus in samples. The current version ofIIKC includes 108taxa, 61 descriptors and 837 pictures and schemes. IIKC is a powerful tool to routinely identify Culicoides species and to train young specialized taxonomists. Specificity and sensitivity of the qPCR assay have been evaluated with 54 species and 9 samples of mixed C. obsoletusl scoticus specimens (0/100, 1/99, 5/95, 25/75, 50/50, 75/25, 95/5, 99/1 and 100/0). The development of new identification tools for arthropod vectors will help seientists in differentiating species and therefore give better insights into distribution, bionomics and vector control of these species.

In 2006, bluetongue virus (BTV) outbreaks appeared surprisingly in northern Europe and widely affected most of the European countries. Correct identification of Culicoides species (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), known as BTV vectors, is a key component of all studies intending to understand vector dynamics and to develop vector control strategies. A computer-based system, Xper2, was used to develop an Interactive Identification Key (IIKC) for female Culicoides from the West Palearctic region. The current version of IIKC includes 108 taxa, 61 descriptors and 837 pictures and schemes. IIKC is a powerful tool for routinely identifying Culicoides species and for training young specialized taxonomists.

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a contagious viral disease of small ruminants present in East and West Africa. In 1999, a serological survey on PPR was conducted by the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MoARD). The survey took place in 88 woreda from 7 out of the 11 regions in the country. 13651 serum samples were collected and analyzed by competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (cELISA) for the detection of antibodies against PPRv at the National Animal Health Research Center (NAHRC), Sebeta. 4585 sera came from goats, 4211 from sheeps and for 4855 the species (sheep or goat) was not recorded. The seroprevalence was estimated to be 9.4% for goats and 8.3% for sheep. The collection and organization of the available results in a geographic information system enabled the description of the spatial pattern of the disease in the country by means of a choropleth map. Large variations could be noticed between the different woreda concerned going from 0% to 52.5% for Dolo Odo woreda in Somali region. The heterogeneities in the distribution of the disease and management practices within the country should be considered when designing and implementing control programs for PPR in Ethiopia. (Texte intégral)

Rift Valley fever (RVF) is an acute arboviral disease of domestic ungulates and humans in Africa and the Middle East. Since the first epidemic in 1987, Senegal has been confronted with recurrent episodes of the disease. This study aimed to model spatial distribution of ruminants in the agropastoral area of Barkedji (Senegal) where the disease is enzootic. In this Sahelian ecosystem, livestock distribution mainly depends on the availability of resources. Accordingly, remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) were used to seek environmental indicators of livestock density. A high-resolution Landsat image was associated with landscape field data to describe the land-cover. A series of normalized difference vegetation index values gave an estimation of the phytomass. In addition the compounds of herders in the study zone were located and sampled. Three surveys were conducted during the rainy season to record the number of herds in each compound of the sample. All these data were overlaid in the GIS. A discriminant analysis was performed to associate the observed herd density with environmental data and to develop a predictive model for the entire study zone. The final result was a 1-km resolution raster map of herd density during a normal rainy season.

The Caribbean Animal Health Network (CaribVET) is a collaboration among institutions (veterinary services, research or diagnostic laboratories, international organizations) to improve animal health throughout the Caribbean. It aims at promoting a regional approach for animal diseases control and emergency preparedness, strengthening national epidemiosurveillance networks, developing and harmonizing regional veterinary diagnostic capacities, and fostering communication and exchange of information in the region. The network was initiated in 1995 with the Caribbean Amblyomma Programme (CAP), an eradication program for Amblyomma variegatum, a tick imported from Africa and associated with severe diseases of ruminants (heartwater and dermatophilosis), whose spread to the Lesser Antilles threatened the rest of the Caribbean and the American mainland. Reintroduction of classical swine fever in Hispaniola in 1996 further demonstrated the need to develop a regional network addressing the main animal health issues. Veterinary surveillance systems and diagnostic laboratories in the Caribbean were inventoried and listed in databases hosted on the CaribVET website www.caribvet.net. Projects funded by various agencies (EU, USDA, etc) were subsequently developed to help control classical swine fever in infected islands and to improve surveillance in neighboring countries. CaribVET also contributed to establishing collaborations for surveillance and diagnostic of West Nile virus, first detected in the Caribbean in 2001. Other activities encompass training, organization of regional meetings and dissemination of information through the CaribVET website. Future developments will include strengthening of epidemiosurveillance and emergency preparedness capacities, especially with regards to (re)emerging pathogens (HPAI, FMD), and improvement of the website in terms of information exhaustiveness and timeliness.