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Economic Evaluation of Vampire Bat ( D esmodus rotundus) Rabies Prevention in M exico
Author(s) -
Anderson A.,
Shwiff S.,
Gebhardt K.,
Ramírez A. J.,
Shwiff S.,
Kohler D.,
Lecuona L.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
transboundary and emerging diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.392
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1865-1682
pISSN - 1865-1674
DOI - 10.1111/tbed.12007
Subject(s) - desmodus rotundus , livestock , rabies , economic cost , cost–benefit analysis , economic impact analysis , vampire , environmental health , biology , ecology , economics , medicine , virology , computer science , neoclassical economics , microeconomics , programming language
Summary Vampire bat rabies causes significant impacts within its endemic range in M exico. These impacts include livestock mortality, animal testing costs, post‐exposure prophylaxis costs, and human mortality risk. Mitigation of the impacts can be achieved by vaccinating livestock and controlling vampire bat populations. A benefit‐cost analysis was performed to examine the economic efficiency of these methods of mitigation, and M onte C arlo simulations were used to examine the impact that uncertainty has on the analysis. We found that livestock vaccination is efficient, with benefits being over six times higher than costs. However, bat control is inefficient because benefits are very unlikely to exceed costs. It is concluded that when these mitigation methods are judged by the metric of economic efficiency, livestock vaccination is desirable but bat control is not.