Continued Control of Overseas Animal Transmissible Diseases to Maintain the Safety of Taiwan's Citizens, Domestic Animals, and Poultry

The Animal Health Research Institute (AHRI) of the Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan, states that due to rapid economic developments, social changes, the open policy announced by the government, the small three links between Taiwan and China, foreign tourism, and Taiwan's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), travelers and the important agricultural products they bring into Taiwan over the past decades have resulted in an increasing risk of introducing overseas animal transmissible diseases to Taiwan.

The sanitary conditions of animal farms in neighboring Southeast Asian nations are generally less than ideal. Major outbreaks of diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), avian influenza, Nipah, and rabies in some of these nations are not infrequent. The Chinese government's concealment of outbreaks of these diseases in mainland China further seriously threatens the development of Taiwan's animal industries, as well as the health and safety of the public.

The AHRI stresses that in order to address this increasingly hazardous issue, they have not only strengthened the manufacturing of vaccines for avian influenza, rabies, and different test agents, but they have also intensified the training of diagnosis technicians and the establishment of standard diagnosis and operation procedures.

They have also received strong support from the Council of Agriculture and have completed building the Exotic Animal Disease Laboratory and the Negative Pressure Animal Anatomy Laboratory that meet the ABSL-3 standard (Animal Biological Safety Laboratory-3). These two operational facilities provide an excellent environment for researching human safety and environmental pollution and have been acknowledged and acclaimed by visiting international disease experts and scholars, greatly increasing Taiwan’s international reputation.

The AHRI has been monitoring overseas animal transmissible diseases, such as African swine fever, since 1994. In addition, rabies, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or mad cow disease), avian influenza, and cattle plague are now included in the monitoring coverage. The tasks completed so far include:

• 4,404 cases of monitoring for African swine fever
• 464 cases of monitoring for rabies
• 3,430 cases of monitoring for BSE
• 71,191 cases of monitoring for cattle plague

None of these cases resulted in positive detections.

Moreover, there were 22,816 cases of monitoring for avian influenza virus in bird droppings, from which 309 virus strains and 27 types of serum were separated; all of which were weak virus strains. The strong H5N1 virus strain was not detected, indicating that Taiwan remains a non-epidemic area free from all the above-mentioned diseases.

The AHRI further emphasizes that more cases of disease transmission are expected to occur due to the increased circulation of people and objects. As a result, the AHRI is not only working with the government's disease control and prevention policies but is also teaching the public relevant knowledge through various channels to help them understand the risks and dangers of disease transmission.

The AHRI will continue to monitor and control overseas animal transmissible diseases in a meticulous manner to ensure the safety of Taiwan's people, domestic animals, and poultry.

Contact:

Shu-Hwae Lee, Division Chief (Epidemiology Research Division)
TEL: 02-26212111 Ext. 501