African Swine Fever: 10 Provinces and Cities in Vietnam Fall, Thai Scholar Says: We Are Mentally Prepared to Fight, All Hand Luggage on Flights from Thailand to Be Inspected 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. There are three articles in this symposium series; please click on the others to read them.
Vietnam saw an outbreak of African swine fever in February this year, with 10 provinces and cities across the country becoming epidemic areas
Vietnam, which is facing urgent epidemic prevention needs, confirmed its first domestic case of African swine fever on the evening of February 19. As of statistics on the 7th of this month, 10 of the country's 63 provinces and cities had become epidemic areas (with one more case 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 epidemic only appeared on the 4th. A total of 5,000 pigs were affected, involving 331 pig farms, all of them domestic pig cases. "Originally there were only seven, but early this morning I received news of two more. Vietnam has seen such a large spread (of the epidemic) in one month, which is very severe," said Dr. Thi Ngoc Pham from the Vietnam National Institute of Veterinary Research with concern.
Dr. Thi Ngoc Pham pointed out that although the African swine fever virus does not infect humans, the epidemic will seriously affect pig farmers' livelihoods and damage the domestic livestock economy. The Vietnamese Prime Minister 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 culls pigs at outbreak sites, pig farmers are not satisfied with the compensation amount (80% compensation for pig prices) and frequently ask when the ban will be lifted so they can continue raising pigs.
She believes that, given that the epidemic has already occurred domestically, what can be done is to strengthen quarantine capacity and epidemic prevention actions. "I also came to this symposium to seek solutions."
Thai scholar: Actively track the health of all pigs; Taiwan: Human resources are a difficulty
Dr. Roongroje Thanawongnuwech further proposed the difference between "active surveillance" and "passive surveillance." The former means conducting health testing on all pigs, including those that still appear normal, as well as actively monitoring wild boar populations; the latter means passively testing submitted samples. Deng Ming-chung, section chief of the Animal Health Research Institute under the Council of Agriculture, said that considering the limited manpower and resources that can be invested, 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 relations 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 very 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, there were no cases of wild boar infection. Therefore, he believes that the possibility of wild boars becoming hosts of the African swine fever virus in Taiwan can temporarily be ruled out.
However, Peng Ming-hsing, section chief of the Animal Quarantine Division of the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, emphasized that "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, but still cannot block infectious diseases. The reason is that when pig farmers engage in farming, they drive cultivators to work elsewhere, or go directly into forests and mountains to farm, so human bodies and vehicles may carry wild boar excrement or other sources of infection. Therefore, although domestic pigs and wild boars do not actually touch, because personnel do not disinfect properly after returning to the farm, they still become vectors for transmitting the virus.
As early as the end of March, direct flights from Thailand to implement 100% hand luggage inspection
Countries around the world are working hard to block African swine fever, and every country worries about becoming the next epidemic area. Taiwan likewise cannot afford to be careless. Currently, Taoyuan Airport carries out 100% hand luggage inspection for passengers from China, Hong Kong, China, Macao, China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. In this regard, Huang Chin-cheng believes that Thailand, surrounded by Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, should also be included in the list of "high-risk blocking areas." In addition, the number of flights from Thailand to Taiwan is the highest among Southeast Asian countries, so it should be placed as soon as possible on the list of countries subject to full luggage inspection. As for Myanmar, which is adjacent to Thailand, because there are no direct flights to Taiwan, the risk of transmission is relatively low.
Feng Hai-tung, Director-General of the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine under the Council of Agriculture, responded that before implementation, the other country would be notified first and asked to cooperate in informing travelers. Communication takes time, and it is estimated that 100% hand luggage inspection for flights from Thailand can be added by the end of this month at the earliest.
At present, "high-risk flights" subject to full hand luggage inspection account for about 40% of all flights at Taoyuan Airport. If direct flights from Thailand are added in the future, the proportion will rise to 60%. In that case, will the capacity of X-ray machines and inspection personnel be sufficient? Feng said that currently 200 personnel are assigned by the aviation police, which is still enough to cope and there is no need to increase manpower, nor is there any plan to purchase X-ray machines. However, more efficient manpower allocation methods will be studied, such as concentrating manpower on day shifts or terminals with higher passenger traffic.