Animal Infectious Disease Preparedness Under Constraint: Surveillance, Response, and Control in Remote and Resource-Limited Settings

Remote and resource-constrained animal systems, whether involving free-ranging wildlife, extensive or smallholder livestock production, aquaculture, or combinations of these, can be particularly vulnerable to delayed detection of infectious disease. Ecological and production conditions that facilitate pathogen persistence or spread are not always matched by the surveillance and diagnostic infrastructure needed to detect transmission early. As a result, pathogens may circulate before they are recognized, with unusual mortality or clinical disease sometimes providing the first indication of an outbreak. Once detected, many of the same constraints also shape the response. Long distances and difficult terrain can delay the movement of samples and personnel, informal animal movement can complicate efforts to determine the extent of transmission, and limited funding or institutional capacity can hinder reporting and intervention. Islands, polar and subpolar regions, transboundary and smallholder production systems, remote aquaculture systems, and conservation-sensitive wildlife populations illustrate different combinations of these ecological, logistical, and institutional challenges. Disease preparedness in such settings therefore cannot depend solely on achieving comprehensive surveillance coverage. It must also improve how quickly incomplete or uncertain signals can be translated into informed decisions and feasible action.Effective preparedness for animal infectious diseases requires surveillance and response systems that remain functional when information, infrastructure, and resources are limited. Yet many wildlife, livestock, aquaculture, and mixed animal systems operate in contexts where access to animals is difficult, diagnostic capacity is uneven, reporting is incomplete, and response options are constrained by geography, funding, workforce availability, or governance. These limitations can delay detection, obscure transmission pathways, and reduce the feasibility of conventional control strategies. This collection aims to identify practical, adaptable approaches that strengthen preparedness under such constraints, with particular emphasis on work that translates surveillance and epidemiological evidence into decisions that animal health authorities, producers, and communities can act on. By bringing together experiences across pathogens, animal systems, and regions, the collection seeks to highlight transferable strategies for earlier detection, locally feasible intervention, and improved One Health preparedness in contexts that are epidemiologically important yet underrepresented in research and surveillance.We welcome contributions on:-surveillance under incomplete or biased data-sample collection, transport, and diagnostic constraints-participatory and community-based surveillance-sentinel species and environmental monitoring-wildlife, livestock, and aquatic animal disease preparedness. We are also interested in approaches that:-integrate field, diagnostic, ecological, genomic, and epidemiological evidence to evaluate feasible vaccination, biosecurity, movement-control, and outbreak-response strategies-strengthen preparedness for emerging and transboundary diseases-communicate uncertainty to animal health authorities and affected communities. Studies may address, for example, avian influenza in remote wildlife populations, African swine fever in smallholder systems, rabies at wildlife-livestock-human interfaces, vector-borne diseases under sparse surveillance, or diseases affecting other underrepresented animal populations. We particularly encourage contributions that demonstrate how the evidence presented can inform a specific preparedness, surveillance, or intervention decision. Topic editors: Sebastián Llanos-Soto, Julia Silva, Cristobal Castillo-Aliaga, Nilani Chandradeva Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/86005/animal-infectious-disease-preparedness-under-constraint-surveillance-response-and-control-in-remote-and-resource-limited-settings