IntroductionWithin the European Union, epidemics of contagious animal diseases such as Classical Swine Fever (CSF) and Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) are to be eradicated according to strict EU- prescriptions including stamping-out of infected herds, establishment of control and surveillance zones with complete standstill of animals and possible export bans on live animals. Epidemics clearly have a serious impact, in particular on countries with a high farm density and an export- oriented production, such as the Netherlands. Therefore, an effective animal disease prevention policy is of major importance for these countries.This thesis is a result of a joint action by the government and private industry in the Netherlands that have funded a research project aimed at gaining more insight into the risk and economic consequences of virus introduction into the country.Real-life experiments on strategies to reduce animal disease introduction and spread is not an option because such experiments would be too risky (and hence too costly). In principle, simulation modelling is an attractive alternative. It calculates the effects of predefined sets of input variables and therefore also offers the possibility of exploring strategies that have not been applied yet. Literature search showed that simulation models describing spread and economic consequences of epidemics within a country were already available. However, an integrated approach which combines the various aspects of outbreaks and spread with economic consequences of outbreaks was still lacking. Therefore, this research project emphasized the development of a model describing introduction of virus into the Netherlands and on the integration and combination of the models.Expert knowledgeGeneralAs with every model, the quality of the outcome of a simulation model is strongly influenced by the quality of the input ('garbage in = garbage out'). Therefore, a considerable part of the research was devoted to the gathering of information on aspects influencing virus ...