Quality testing and monitoring of general veterinary drug

Chen Yu-Lin

Abstract

The control points of the veterinary drugs management system include drug registration, ingredient inspection, marketing authorization, post-market drug quality monitoring, and use surveillance. These control points ensure the safety and quality of veterinary drugs throughout their life cycle. The post-market quality control of veterinary drugs is especially important among these control points. We have cooperated with the competent authorities' policies to conduct quality inspections on the post-market of general veterinary drugs, focusing on drug composition, quality, and quantity. These inspections ensure veterinary drugs' quality and safety. The results of the last ten years showed that domestically produced drugs accounted for 75% of the total inspected drugs. Injections were found to be the most common dosage form, comprising 38.9% of the total. The average pass rate was 96.2% and amoxicillin was the most common ingredient. In addition, penicillin G drugs were commonly found in non-passed samples.

The applications and limitations of morphology for parasite diagnosis-case studies of helminths

Yu-Ching Chuang  Assistant Researcher

Abstract

Helminths, for examples endoparasites such as nematodes, digeneans, cestode, are often neglected due to their small size or lack of obvious hazards. However, some of these parasites possess the characters of complex life-cycle, diverse hosts species across different taxa, or zoonotic risk. For this reason, in the project “Neglected Parasitic Zoonosis (NPZs)” held by World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), important issues related to helminths were raised, including porcine cysticercosis, echinococcosis, and trichinellosis. Morphological identification techniques in parasitology still have their place in the era of molecular biology. That is because early researches and classification system were built on morphology, and more information related to parasite ecology and pathology can be revealed during the process of isolation and live worm observation. For examples, their movement patterns, surface textures, colors, odors, their preference sites, and pathological effected, etc.

The techniques for morphological identification include but not limit to: observation by naked eye, light microscopy, or electron microscopy. Morphology can be quantified as well, for examples in morphometric studies, simple to sophisticated statistics can be applied. Furthermore, in combination of specific stain and laser scanning confocal microscopy, complicated neuro-muscular systems can be revealed, to enhance our understanding of functional biology. The combined-evidence studies which include both morphological and genetic data, can take advantage to both techniques, and strengthen the confidence of phylogenetic analysis.

In the present study, by means of case studies of Maritrema sp., cestodes from leopard cat, and cestodes and nematodes from goat, the applications and limitations of morphological diagnosis were share and discussed.

Report on Attendance of the Regional Workshop for Avian Diseases Prevention and Control in Asia and the Pacific

Yu-Pin Liu

Abstract

In order to provide recent international poultry disease outbreaks, surveillance data, updated diagnostic technologies and to discuss effective prevention and control of avian influenza and other poultry diseases, the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) held the regional workshop for avian diseases in Qingdao, China, from August 29 to 31 of 2023. During the workshop, issues regarding the control and encounter of avian influenza, Newcastle disease and other important poultry diseases were discussed, and epidemic information in the Asia-Pacific region was shared. The conclusions of the workshop include: It is recommended that member countries follow the provisions of the Terrestrial Code to report avian influenza cases to WOAH promptly and completely, share virus information through regional collaboration networks. Proper monitoring of poultry, wild birds and other susceptible animals may benefit early warning and risk management. The implementation of vaccination could be considered as a complementary disease control tool based on sound surveillance and taking into account local factors such as circulating virus strains, risk assessment, and vaccination implementation conditions. In the future, WOAH will continue to hold at least one physical meeting every year, and hold a virtual meeting between to maintain connections among members in the region and to share important epidemic information.