August 22, 2007

 

FAO: Vietnam can control swine disease outbreaks

 

 

A team of veterinary experts sent to Vietnam by the Food and Agriculture and the World Organisation Animal Health's Crisis Management Centre (CMC) say recent deaths among pigs can be brought under control.

 

FAO Vietnam says they are investigating on a theory that a number of swine diseases are "interacting together" have caused unusual outbreaks, including the recent "blue-ear disease" or Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS). They emphasize that PRRS does not infect humans.

 

The CMC team was dispatched in response to a request from Vietnam to FAO.

 

The mission included Dr Carolyn Benigno (team leader), Dr Joseph Annelli (disease control expert), Dr Marcelo Gottschalk (diagnostician), and national experts Dr Nguyen Thu Thuy and Dr Nguyen Dang Tho.

 

Samples have been sent to an international laboratory in the US for confirmation and sequencing the strain to determine the type of the virus to identify the appropriate vaccine. Preliminary tests show the strains were negative for African swine fever, classical swine fever and foot-and-mouth-disease.

 

According to experts, pig mortality in recent outbreaks affected 10 to 15 percent of the animals, which is not unusually high for livestock in South-East Asia. PRRS reduces immunity in pigs and leads to secondary infections of bacterial diseases like Streptococcus suis, Haemophilus parasuis and Salmonella, as well as being associated with other viruses.

 

Dr Benigno said confining PRRS can start by curing sick pigs from secondary infections by appropriate use of approved antibiotic injections and this would greatly reduce the losses.

 

PRRS can cause reproductive failure, pneumonia and increased susceptibility to secondary bacterial infection.

 

Dr Andrew Speedy, FAO Representative to Vietnam, said the organisation is working closely with the Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) "to strengthen the technical capacity in disease surveillance, laboratory diagnostics, and to increase awareness of the disease among frontline animal health workers and farmers."

 

FAO and MARD called on the international community to support future disease investigation and laboratory work, and to undertake a communication campaign for farmers, paravets and the general public.