October 31, 2019

 

OIE head warns of continuing spread of African swine fever across Asia

 

 

No country is safe from the reach of African swine fever, the head of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) told Reuters on October 30, adding that the disease will only spread further across Asia.

 

So far, ASF reached 50 countries, with its impact so significant that it has reshaped the world's meat and feed markets.

 

"We are really facing a threat that is global," OIE director general Monique Eloit said. "The risk exists for all countries, whether they are geographically close or geographically distant because there is a multitude of potential sources of contamination."

 

And, one of the ways ASF transmits from one territory to another is through a tourist bringing back a ham or sausage sandwich from a contaminated country and throwing it away - only to have that tainted garbage be reused by farmers to feed their pigs, Eloit highlighted.

 

There are additional risks from trading live animals and food products across borders and from small breeders using restaurant or train-station waste to feed their stock.

 

Eliot does not see an improvement in the situation "(in) the short term." She added: "We will continue to have more outbreaks in the infected countries. Neighbouring countries are at high risk, and for some, the question is when they will be infected."

 

So far, China had issued a series of policies in September aimed at supporting national hog production and securing meat supplies.

 

Eloit said the measures were adequate, but needed to be fully implemented.

 

"There is a difference between what is decided on paper - I do not think there is any concern here - and how we actually get to apply [decisions] on the ground especially in countries that are very large, which have a wide variety of production," she said

 

In Europe, the situation is different because outbreaks mainly concern wild boars, Eloit added.

 

ASF has been found on farms in Eastern Europe, but its spread had been mostly contained, due mainly to tight security measures implemented in some countries.

 

- Reuters