August 27, 2009

Since the animal health authorities resumed vaccinations of pigs aged 12-14 weeks on August 1, there have been no new cases of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in Taiwan, the country's Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine reported Wednesday (Aug 26).

Chiu Chui-chang, a bureau section chief, said pigs of that age are vulnerable to FMD and they need to be vaccinated against the disease. He added that the amount of FMD vaccine used in August was more than double the amount used in the previous month.

Before the resumption of vaccinations, only sporadic FMD cases were reported from different regions to the bureau in the last year. However, the bureau decided to re-impose the practice in a bid to make Taiwan an FMD-free country recognised by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) with a zero-vaccination rate, bureau officials said.

Until late last year, 90 percent of the pigs on 12,000 farms in Taiwan had stopped receiving FMD vaccinations, moving Taiwan closer to the zero-injection rate required by the OIE, the officials noted.

FMD first broke out in Taiwan in 1997 when the disease-stricken hogs from China were smuggled into the country. From that year onward, the bureau was forced to mandate the vaccination of all pigs to curb the spread of the epidemic in Taiwan.

With the return of the immunisation measure, the officials said it will now take Taiwan several more years to achieve its goal of becoming recognised as a country free from FMD.

According to officials from Taiwan's Council of Agriculture, Taiwan used to raise as many as 12 million pigs annually, with seven million heads being exported to Japan. Taiwan now raises only about 6.4 million pigs a year, which are mainly for local consumption.