2.1.

2 Unit of Interest
We are usually only interested in the population, but not usually interested in the individual. Individuals
are only important as far as they relate to the population in order to try to develop an idea of what is
happening in the whole population from observing or analysing a limited number of individuals. It can
be difficult to get a representative idea of what is happening in the whole population because those fish
you can see are not necessarily representative. In a cage the fish that come to the feed will be the fittest.
Those that dont feed but are at the surface will often be sick but there will be other fish deeper down in
the pond or cage which are sick but difficult to see (Figure .!."#. The task is to try and determine
what the picture is in the whole population. The population can be$
%onds, cages or tanks
Farms
&reas of a country
& whole region
Figure 2.1.4 Diagrammatic representation of a tilapia cage
EPIDEMIOLOGY !tu"# of "isease patterns in populations
'pidemiology is the study of patterns of disease in populations, whereas traditional approaches study
individuals. (oth approaches are needed to control disease effectively.
Farmers do epidemiology all the time. They try to see patterns in disease outbreaks, e.g. )eographic
and temporal distribution. They associate between management and production, e.g. more profitable
feeding strategies.
I"entif#ing t$e pro%lem an" "etermining t$e cause of t$e pro%lem
The information you get when you speak to farmers is often misleading for a variety of reasons e.g.
*ou may ask the +uestions in a leading manor e.g. have you seen any fish with red spots?
*ou should ask What have you seen on your fish?
They try to please you by telling you what they think you want to know , this is -ust human
nature.
They may not know but not want to admit they do not know.
They may be intentionally hiding information for a variety of reasons, e.g. to protect
themselves, because they dont trust you etc.