FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE, PORCINE - TAIWAN (06)

Date: Fri 31 Jul 2009
Source: Central News Agency via Taiwan News [edited]
<http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1019079&lang=eng_news&cate_img=35.jpg&cate_rss=news_Business>


Taiwan to resume vaccinations on hogs to fight foot-and-mouth disease
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Taiwan will begin from 1 Aug 2009 giving every hog aged between 12 to
14 weeks vaccination against foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), the Bureau
of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine (BAPHIQ)
announced Friday [31 Jul 2009].

BAPHIQ Deputy Director General Huang Kuo-ching said that the measure
was taken to prevent the disease virus from spreading after 7
outbreaks have been reported from hog farms in the Yunlin, Changhua,
Chiayi, Pingtung, Taoyuan and Hsinchu areas since February 2009. The
sporadic cases indicated that the virus had not been completely
destroyed following eradication efforts in the aftermath of an
outbreak in 1997, Huang said.

The resumption of vaccination means that the day for Taiwan to be
listed as a fully FMD-free country will not come in the short run, he
added. Taiwan has been working to become a fully FMD-free country
after it was recognized by the World Organization for Animal Health
(OIE) as an "FMD-free country with vaccination" thanks to its efforts
to eliminate the disease since the 1997 outbreak.

Huang stated that 90 percent of the hogs around the country have
never been given shots of an anti-FMD vaccine since 2005, when the
vaccination was fully stopped in efforts to seek Taiwan's FMD-free
status. As a result, 78 percent of Taiwan's existing hogs were found
with no antibodies against the FMD virus, Huang said, noting that
this is believed to be the major reason behind the recent outbreaks.

Tests, moreover, have shown that resistance against FMD in the pig
populations has dropped, according to Huang. These signs showed a
spread of the disease virus in domestic hog farms, Huang said.

Meanwhile, the animal inspection bureau has also found that only 3 of
7 FMD cases this year were reported to the authorities by local
breeders or veterinarians voluntarily, while the other cases were
only exposed during the bureau's surprise inspections.

The reluctance of hog breeders to immediately report outbreaks
inhibits the bureau in its efforts to eliminate the source of
infections as soon as outbreaks occur, Huang said.

[Byline: Elizabeth Hsu]