March 23, 2007

International animal health organizations support poultry vaccination

A conference of 4000 experts in Verona reviewed the achievements of vaccination and prevention programmes worldwide and concluded that the disease reporting and control policies have improved substantially since the beginning of the crisis in late 2003.

The conference was jointly organized by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie (IZSVe).

A large part of the improvement had to do with vaccination of poultry even though other control measures were implemented, the conference said.

The conference recommended that poultry should be vaccinated, especially in areas where bird flu is endemic and when other control measures such as stamping out, movement controls have failed to stop the spread of the virus.

A successful vaccination campaign depends mainly on the use of high quality vaccines complying with OIE standards, rapid and safe delivery of vaccines (cold chain), monitoring of vaccinated flocks, movement control and adequate financial resources.

The conference further pointed out that any vaccination policy should include an exit strategy to reduce reliance on costly long-term vaccination.

It also recommended the use of sentinel birds to detect impending outbreaks in the field when possible.

The conference urged the development and funding of more research in the development of new and improved vaccines and vaccines that combine bird flu protection with the ability to act against other poultry diseases such as Newcastle disease.