Tick fever vaccine investment evaluation

Tick fever is a significant disease of cattle in Australia with up to 7 million animals potentially at risk. It is a serious, often fatal complex of diseases caused by one or more of the tick-borne parasites Babesia bovis, Babesia bigemina and Anaplasma marginale. The Tick Fever Centre (TFC) operates as a unit located within Biosecurity Queensland of the Queensland Primary Industries and Fisheries (QPIF), Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation (DEEDI). It was established at Wacol in 1966 to specifically develop and produce an effective vaccine for the control of tick fever. It currently supplies an average of 850 000 doses each year with 95 per cent used within Queensland (QPIF 2009).One purpose of the evaluation was to identify the economic benefits provided by the ongoing provision of the tick fever vaccine. The measureable economic benefits accruing to the TFC are mainly due to potential reductions in the rate of mortality incurred in the northern beef herd. The TFC provides a significant and positive economic benefit to the Queensland and northern beef industry. Even though a number of identifiable economic and social benefits have proven difficult to measure accurately, they do exist and should be seen as adding considerably to the economic benefits quantified in this evaluation.