Data Platform for Animal Mortality Information System (DATASIMA): Monitoring Companion Animal's Euthanasia Causes in City of João Pessoa, Brazil.

Simple Summary: A new animal mortality monitoring platform, named DATASIMA, was utilized to track and record cases of animal euthanasia in the municipality of João Pessoa, Brazil. This system was designed to help understand why animals, such as dogs and cats, die or are euthanized, providing accurate data on their causes of death. From April to September 2022, 403 animals were euthanized at a Zoonoses Control Center in the city, with the most common reasons being infections like sporotrichosis in cats and leishmaniasis in dogs. Other causes included diseases such as canine distemper and injuries from vehicle accidents, which affect both species. DATASIMA also helped map areas where these health issues were most prevalent, offering valuable information for local health authorities to develop targeted health strategies and better address zoonotic disease outbreaks in the community. The literature regarding causes of animal mortality varies greatly in how it evaluates and describes reasons for euthanasia, showing a clear need for tools to identify, standardize, and map diseases. This study describes the application of the Animal Mortality Information System Database (DATASIMA) to monitoring and georeferencing animal mortality. An observational study was conducted on the dogs and cats euthanized at the Municipal Center for Environmental and Zoonotic Surveillance in João Pessoa, Paraíba. The deaths were reported through DATASIMA, an online platform created and developed in Brazil, which is aimed at observing animal mortality through the Animal Death Declaration between April and September 2022. A total of 403 euthanized animals were recorded, including 204 dogs and 199 cats. The most common diseases leading to euthanasia were as follows: (i) Sporotrichosis (171 cats); (ii) Leishmaniasis (75 dogs); (iii) Distemper (35 dogs); (iv) Trauma from vehicle collisions (ten dogs and nine cats). The DATASIMA platform proved to be an effective system for keeping records and reporting causes of animal mortality. Through georeferencing, it was possible to map areas with higher frequencies of zoonotic outbreaks in the municipality studied, thus providing useful data to implement health promotion strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]