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[2006.11.22] Continued Control of Overseas Animal Transmissible Diseases to Maintain the Safety of Taiwans Citizens, Domestic Animals, and Poultry.....
Continued Control of Overseas Animal Transmissible Diseases to Maintain the Safety of Taiwans 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 Taiwans entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), travelers and the important agricultural products they bring into Taiwan in the past decades have resulted in the 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 and 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 governments concealment of outbreaks of these diseases in mainland China is further seriously threatening the development of Taiwans 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; 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). Not only do these two operational facilities provide an excellent environment for researching human safety and environmental pollution, but they have also been acknowledged and acclaimed by visiting international disease experts and scholars, greatly increasing our nations international reputation. The AHRI has started 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 being added into 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, and 71,191 cases of monitoring for cattle plague, all of which resulted with no positive cases detected. There were also 22,816 cases of monitoring for avian influenza virus in bird droppings, in 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 our nation remains a non-epidemic area that is free of all the above mentioned diseases. The AHRI further stresses that more cases of disease-transmission are expected to occur as a result of the increased circulation of people and objects. Therefore, the AHRI is not only working with the governments disease control and prevention policies but also teaching the public relevant knowledge through different means and helping them understand the risks and dangers of disease-transmission. The AHRI will also continue to monitor and control overseas animal transmissible diseases in a meticulous manner in order to ensure the safety of the people, domestic animals, and poultry in Taiwan.
Contact: Shu-Hwae Lee, Division Chief (Epidemiology Research Division). TEL: 02-26212111 Ext. 501
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