Dr. Jack Shere the chief veterinary officer for the United States, is confident mitigation strategies in place in the Caribbean are sufficient to keep African Swine Fever from moving from that region to the U.S. mainland.
African Swine Fever: Where it Exists and What’s at Stake is the first in a series of five African Swine Fever Action Week seminars recently by the USDA.
The Dominican Republic was confirmed infected but Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands remain free and result from testing in Haiti are expected by early next week.
Dr. Shere said the Dominican Republic had Classical Swine Fever for many years and mitigation strategies have prevented it from getting into either Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands.
A protection zone is something new that the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) has added to their chapters coming out in May.
It allows a country to choose an area they think is high risk and put certain mitigation factors in place to protect that zone from infection.
“That’s what we’re doing with Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, so we’re heightening our mitigations there to keep the disease out. But, should the disease occur there, we want to protect the U.S. mainland. So that protection zone outlines and says the U.S. has mitigations and protections in place that prevent this disease from moving from Puerto Rico, should it occur, to the U.S. mainland.”
More specifically the OIE provides for the establishment of a protection zone within an area free of disease as a temporary measure in response to an increased risk from a neighbouring country or zone of different animal health status. APHIS (Animal Plant Health Inspection Service) has concluded that this is a prudent course of action in response to ASF detection in the DR. Once the OIE recognizes the protection zone(s), APHIS will confirm that individual countries recognize and accept the zone(s). Their recognition will ensure the continued flow of U.S. pork and live swine exports.
When the protection zone is in place APHIS will have processes in place in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to restrict the movement of live swine and products out of the protection zone. Conduct appropriate surveillance within the protection zone to detect introductions of the disease quickly. Conduct a public education campaign relating to biosecurity on farms and other establishments, prohibitions on movement of live swine and products outside the region, contacting authorities to report clinical cases, and similar actions.
APHIS works with DR officials to assist in their response to the ASF detection, including technical advice and assistance on surveillance, quarantine, depopulation, and disposal methods. Also providing continued testing support, including bolstering in-country testing capacity; and providing additional personal protective equipment for responders. Although officials have not confirmed ASF in Haiti, APHIS is offering similar country support.
APHIS is confident that its many existing preventive measures and mitigations, along with the additional measures underway and announced today, will protect our livestock industry from ASF and ensure the continued export of pork. •
— By Harry Siemens
