PH at risk of possible ‘transboundary’ spread of African Swine Fever

The outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) in China and in other areas has prompted an emergency meeting at the United Nations (UN) which kicked off yesterday in Bangkok, which required attendance from countries like the Philippines that could be at risk for ‘transboundary’ spread of the deadly disease.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) opened the threeday emergency meeting on Wednesday to examine the most recent developments in China following the ASF outbreak.

The specialists – veterinary epidemiologists, and laboratory experts – as well as other senior technical staff, directly involved with regulatory aspects of disease prevention and control planning, are drawn from nine countries with “geographical proximity” to China and “perceived to be at risk of a transboundary spread of ASF”.

These countries are the Philippines, Cambodia, China, Japan, Lao PDR, Mongolia, Myanmar, Republic of Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Outbreaks of ASF have occurred in Europe and the Americas as early as the 1950’s and through the 1980’s. However, in 2007, a new introduction of ASF occurred in the Republic of Georgia, which then spread to neighboring countries, affecting Eastern Europe.

In Asia, ASF was first detected at a pig farm in the Siberian region of the Russian Federation in March 2017. In China, the virus was discovered in the country’s northeast at the beginning of August this year. Since then, five additional cases have been reported in other areas of China, as many one thousand kilometers apart.

China produces more than half of the world’s pigs and while it poses no direct threat to human health, ASF can devastate the swine population.

In its most virulent form, it is 100 percent fatal to the animals who contract the virus.

To contain its spread within China, the authorities have culled as many 40,000 pigs so far.

Representatives from China will update the meeting on the latest numbers and actions being undertaken within the country.

“It’s critical that this region be ready for the very real possibility that ASF could jump the border into other countries,” said Wantanee Kalpravidh, Regional Manager of the FAO Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) in Asia.

“That’s why this emergency meeting has been convened – to assess where we are now – and to determine how we can work together in a coordinated, regional response to this serious situation,” she added.

In order to reach a consensus on the way forward, this emergency meeting will also review recent research studies and technologies and consider lessons from the most recent and ongoing episodes of ASF in Europe in the aftermath of its introduction since 2007.

As part of its security measures to protect the local swine population from any potential ASF contamination, the Philippines, through the Department of Agriculture (DA), already placed a temporary ban on the importation of domestic and wild pigs and their products including pork meat and semen originating from China, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Russia, and Ukraine.

The DA also prohibited the use of catering food waste or leftovers from international and domestic airports and seaports as swine-swill feed throughout the country.