A research feasibility assessment of regulatory information systems capacities for investigation of epidemiologic factors in pseudorabies.

Pseudorabies (PR) outbreak-investigation forms from 10 states having the most PR-infected herds were evaluated for agreement in question response-data type, information intent, and outbreak information categories. A question randomly selected from an investigation form had 0.6304 probability of being unique to a single state, and 0.0062 probability of being common to all states. Analysis of outbreak forms, on the basis of information intent, revealed that the probability of a randomly selected question being derived from an information category unique to a single state was 0.0323, whereas the probability of a question being derived from an information category shared by all states was 0.1935. A telephone survey revealed that state PR control officials did not believe additional research on between-herd spread of PR was necessary to successfully complete the eradication program. However, officials believed a better understanding of PR risk factors would enhance program effectiveness and build producer confidence.