Let the aerial camera monitor the sick pig! Foot-and-mouth disease pulls needle into non-epidemic area and returns to international important key.

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(by upstream and downstream journalist Lin Shijun / tr. by Phil Newell)

Foot-and-mouth disease has been entangling Taiwan's pig industry for 21 years. Since there was no more epidemic last year, the Council of Agriculture decided to fully "pull out needles" in July this year. If there is no case of foot-and-mouth disease within a year, it is expected to restore "non-epidemic areas." it is an important step for Taiwan's livestock to return to the international market.

Foot-and-mouth disease "pull out the needle", completely stop vaccination

In 1986, foot-and-mouth disease broke out in Taiwan, which dealt a heavy blow to the pig industry. Lin Congxian, chairman of the Council of Agriculture, said that 3.8 million pigs were culled that year, which in turn affected the upstream, middle and downstream industries of pork, causing many operators to leave the pig industry sadly and shrinking the scale of raising pigs in Taiwan. resulting in a loss of animal husbandry output value of NT $170 billion, "it's simply horrible!"

Over the past 20 years, the government has relied on continuous vaccination to control the epidemic. In 1992, there was no more case of foot-and-mouth disease in Taiwan. It was identified as a "vaccination-free area" by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). In 1998, it planned to stop vaccination, but the epidemic revived in the same year, and the government immediately resumed the campaign.

In 106, OIE once again recognized Taiwan as a "vaccinated non-epidemic area." since January this year, the Council of Agriculture has released three batches of unvaccinated "sentinel pigs" that do not have antibodies in their bodies to come into contact with pigs in ordinary pig farms. Environmental tests show that all foot-and-mouth disease viruses are negative. Lin Congxian said that the vaccination rate of foot-and-mouth disease vaccine in Taiwan is more than 90%, and the antibody protection coverage rate is 86%. It is speculated that there is no foot-and-mouth disease virus in China, so the Council of Agriculture expects to "pull out the injection" in July this year and completely stop vaccination.

Within a year is the key.

Lin Congxian held a "needle-pulling vows meeting" today (19) in Pingtung, an important pig-raising town in Taiwan. Lin said that he was confident that foot-and-mouth disease had been completely eliminated in China, and that as long as there were no more cases of foot-and-mouth disease in the coming year, he could apply to OIE for a return to the "epidemic-free area", hoping to revive Taiwan's pig industry and enhance its international competitiveness.

However, Lin points out, "this year is the key!" It is stressed that the epidemic should not recur, otherwise everything will have to start all over again.

With regard to the relevant epidemic prevention measures after needle extraction, "border management and detection of smuggling are very important." Lin stressed that after foot-and-mouth disease disappeared at home, it was necessary to pay more attention to the virus brought in from abroad, so it was necessary to strengthen the inspection of the sale and sale of meat at the border, especially the meat products sold in Kinmen. At the same time, Lin also called on domestic livestock operators to strengthen personnel disinfection when they return home in order to comprehensively contain the invasion of foreign viruses.

Guo Hongyu, head of the Agricultural Test Institute, said that the aerial camera can also be used in pig health testing (Photography / Lin Xiejun)

If the pigs are shipped, sign the health declaration.

Shi Taihua, deputy director of the Prevention and Inspection Bureau, said that farmers should also implement good independent biosafety management, such as avoiding cross-infection of pigs on the farm. "the main source of infection is transport vehicles." Shi stressed that disinfection measures should be taken when carrying pigs and feed vehicles in and out.

Shi Taihua also said that since 9 July, if pigs are to be shipped, they need to sign a "health declaration" for livestock, confirming that the pigs are not infected with foot-and-mouth disease. If there is an epidemic and does not take the initiative to report it, they can be fined up to NT $1 million in accordance with the regulations on the Prevention and Control of Animal Infectious Diseases, and will not compensate for the loss of livestock that have been culled.

Finally pull out the needle to enhance the competitiveness of international livestock

If there is another outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, Chien Maosheng, a professor at the Institute of Veterinary Pathobiology at Chung Hsing University, says that small-scale infections (such as one or two farms) should be treated by culling; if the epidemic has spread to other counties and cities, regional vaccination measures should be restored.

With regard to the related control and reserve of vaccines, Shi Taihua stressed that after pulling out the needle, Taiwan still has a physical vaccine, and there is also a sufficient quantity of vaccine in the British Vaccine Bank, which can be delivered to Taiwan within five days as long as it is necessary.

Yang Jie, vice chairman of the Republic of China Pig raising Association, said that over the past 20 years, Taiwan's pig industry has been struggling with foot-and-mouth disease, and it is nice to see that this year Taiwan will finally be able to "pull out needles" and move forward towards an epidemic-free area. look forward to enhancing the competitiveness of domestic livestock and reducing dependence on imported meat.

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