Educational handbooks

Bird flu, avian influenza

An innovative initiative by Cirad to circulate information about this disease, one that began in Southeast Asia in 1997 as an animal health problem before spreading to Africa in early 2006.

Produced through the collective efforts of a group of research scientists, this handbook is also available in French: “La grippe aviaire, l’influenza aviaire”.

The White Grub in the Emerald Paradise

In French
A scientific investigation is carried out on an insect pest that accidentally was introduced onto Réunion island, causing considerable damage, particularly on sugar cane.  The effort to control the white worm population involved a wide range of measures. Among these was biological pest control, which assumed the lead thanks to another outsider introduced onto the island: a fungus fatal to white worms. 

Catarrhal Fever or Bluetongue disease

In French
An innovative initiative by Cirad to circulate information about this vector-borne viral disease.  Traditionally found in Africa among herds of sheep, the disease has ventured onto other continents in recent decades, affecting Corsica since 2000 and ovine and bovine sectors in several European countries since 2006.

Foot and Mouth Disease

An original initiative of CIRAD and thirteen partner institutions intended to share information in a innovative manner on this viral animal disease that is very contagious for cattle, pigs, sheep and goats, and which remains endemic in some one hundred countries.  Written using the narrative point of view technique, this handbook proposes as many entry points into scientific knowledge as there are subjects concerned by the disease: livestock farmers and veterinarians in developed and developing countries, domestic and wild animals, a journalist, an economist, a virus and even a vaccine!

This handbook is also available in French: “La fièvre aphteuse ou la maladie des pieds et de la bouche”.

Peste des petits ruminants

PPR is a highly contagious viral disease affecting domestic small ruminants (goats and sheep), dromedaries, and some wild small ruminants. Long overlooked, the disease is now endemic in most coujntries of Africa, the MIddle East, and Asia. It causes considerable losses in herds and endangers the livelihoods and food security of the most impoverished populations. Despite the existence of a highly effective vaccine, PPR continues to spread geographically, putting disease-free countries in the South ans North at risk of virus incursion and disease emergence.

This handbook is also available in French: “La peste des petits ruminants”.