African swine fever hits 9 provinces and cities in Vietnam; Thailand prepares to inspect all carry-on luggage by the end of March
To learn from the experience of various countries in preventing and controlling African swine fever, the Council of Agriculture held an international symposium, inviting experts and scholars from the United Kingdom, Russia, Vietnam, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and other countries to gather in Taipei for discussions. This article focuses on the epidemic prevention situations in Vietnam and Thailand. The symposium series has three articles in total; please click on the others to read more.
Vietnam saw an African swine fever outbreak in February this year, with 9 provinces and cities across the country becoming epidemic areas
Vietnam, which is facing urgent disease prevention needs, confirmed its first domestic African swine fever case on the evening of February 19. As of the 5th of this month, 10 of the country's 63 provinces and cities had become epidemic areas (another case was added on March 8).
The epidemic areas are mostly concentrated in northern Vietnam, including Hung Yen Province, Thai Binh Province, Hai Phong City, Hanoi City, Ha Nam Province, Hai Duong Province, Thanh Hoa Province, as well as Dien Bien Province and Tuan Giao District, where the outbreak only appeared on the 4th. A total of 5,000 pigs were affected, involving 331 pig farms, all of them domestic pig cases. "There were originally only seven, and when I got up this morning I received news of two more. Vietnam has had such a large (epidemic) spread in one month, which is very severe," said Dr. Thi Ngoc Pham from the National Institute of Veterinary Research of Vietnam with concern.
Dr. Thi Ngoc Pham pointed out that although the African swine fever virus does not infect humans, the epidemic will severely affect pig farmers' livelihoods and damage the domestic livestock economy. The Prime Minister of Vietnam has already convened a meeting, announced the launch of emergency response measures, and instructed that African swine fever be dealt with in "combat mode." However, Vietnamese pig farmers are mainly small-scale, which limits the implementation of biosecurity. In addition, when the government carries out culling of pigs at outbreak sites, pig farmers are not satisfied with the compensation amount (80% of the pig price) and frequently ask when restrictions can be lifted and pig farming can continue.
She believes that, given that the epidemic has already occurred domestically, what can be done is to strengthen quarantine capacity and disease prevention actions. "I also came to this symposium to seek solutions."
Thai scholar: proactively track the health of all pigs; Taiwan: human resources are limited
Dr. Roongroje Thanawongnuwech further proposed the difference between "active surveillance" and "passive surveillance." The former involves health testing of all pigs, including those that still appear normal, as well as active monitoring of wild boar populations; the latter involves passively testing submitted samples. Teng Ming-chung, associate researcher at the Animal Health Research Institute of the Council of Agriculture, said that considering the manpower and resources required, truly carrying out "active surveillance" is unlikely, and Taiwan currently adopts "passive surveillance."
Therefore, although various countries advocate implementing wild boar monitoring programs, Taiwan has not yet launched related actions. Huang Chin-cheng further explained that Europe, South Korea and Japan have closer relationships with wild boars, and the classical swine fever (CSF) outbreak in Japan last year was very likely related to wild boar populations. However, based on his observations, Taiwan's wild boar numbers and density are both low, and they are very far from domestic pigs. Even when Taiwan had a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in 1997, although the virus could spread through the air, it did not cause any cases of wild boar infection. Therefore, he believes that the possibility of wild boars becoming a host for the African swine fever virus in Taiwan can temporarily be ruled out.
However, Peng Ming-hsing, head of the Animal Quarantine Division of the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, emphasized, "Human factors may also lead to 'indirect contact.'" He pointed out that in order to separate domestic pigs from wild boars, Poland builds two-story-high fences around pig farms, yet still cannot block infectious diseases. The reason is that when pig farmers engage in farming, they drive tillers to work elsewhere, or directly enter forests and mountains to cultivate, so human bodies and vehicles may carry wild boar excrement or other sources of infection. Therefore, although domestic pigs and wild boars do not come into contact, because personnel do not properly disinfect after returning to the farm, they still become a transmission medium for the virus.
As early as the end of March, Thailand direct flights to implement 100% carry-on luggage inspection
As countries around the world work to block African swine fever, every country worries about becoming the next epidemic area, and Taiwan likewise cannot let down its guard. Currently, Taoyuan Airport carries out 100% carry-on luggage inspections for passengers from China, Hong Kong, China, Macao, China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. In response, Huang Chin-cheng believes that Thailand, surrounded by Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, should also be included on the "high-risk blocking areas" list. In addition, Thailand has the highest number of flights to Taiwan among Southeast Asian countries, so it should be added as soon as possible to the list of countries subject to full luggage inspection. As for Myanmar, which borders Thailand, because there are no direct flights to Taiwan, the transmission risk is relatively low.
Feng Hai-tung, director-general of the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine of the Council of Agriculture, responded that before implementation, the other country would be notified in advance and asked to cooperate in informing passengers. Communication requires some time, and it is estimated that 100% carry-on luggage inspection for flights from Thailand can be added by the end of this month at the earliest.
Currently, the "high-risk flights" subject to full carry-on luggage inspection account for about 40% of all flights at Taoyuan Airport. If direct flights from Thailand are added in the future, that proportion will rise to 60%. In that case, will the capacity of X-ray machines and inspection personnel be sufficient? He said that the aviation police currently have 200 personnel assigned, which is still enough to cope and does not require additional manpower, and there are no plans to purchase X-ray machines. However, more efficient manpower allocation methods will be discussed, such as concentrating personnel on day shifts or in terminals with higher passenger traffic.