Strengthening disease prevention and control for livestock and poultry during Tet holiday

According to the report of the Department of Animal Health, the epidemic situation in livestock and poultry in recent times has been complicated and the work of disease prevention and control has encountered many difficulties. Currently, the country has 5 outbreaks of A/H5N6 flu (occurring in 5 communes in 4 districts of 4 provinces, including: Quang Ngai, Kon Tum, Tuyen Quang, Lang Son) and 26 outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease that have not passed 21 days.

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As for blue ear disease in pigs, although the outbreaks have been controlled since early December 2015, the risk of the epidemic continuing to arise in the coming time is very high.

The main causes of outbreaks and disease spread are: Abnormal weather changes reduce the resistance of livestock and create favorable conditions for pathogens to survive and spread widely; pathogens circulate widely in the environment and among livestock; transportation and slaughter of livestock and poultry in some localities are still not strictly controlled; illegal transportation of animals across the border is still complicated, causing the risk of bringing pathogens into Vietnam; vaccination of livestock in some localities has not been fully implemented.

To be more proactive and improve the effectiveness of animal disease prevention and control during the 2016 Lunar New Year, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development requests the Chairman of the People's Committee of the provinces and centrally-run cities to direct the functional agencies, Departments, branches and local authorities to strictly implement the work of preventing and controlling avian influenza according to the contents of Official Dispatch No. 10598/CD-BNN-TY dated December 28, 2015 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on strengthening the work of preventing and controlling A/H7N9 influenza virus and other avian influenza virus strains that can infect humans.

In addition, direct strict implementation of the work of preventing and controlling the FMD epidemic in livestock. Specifically, for provinces and cities with FMD outbreaks, the People's Committees of provinces and cities must immediately declare the epidemic in accordance with the law to mobilize maximum resources for epidemic prevention and control. Direct to accelerate the work of vaccination to contain the epidemic, and take measures to force vaccination of livestock in epidemic areas and areas threatened by the epidemic when necessary.

Temporarily suspend the purchase, transportation, and slaughter of livestock susceptible to FMD and their products in communes with epidemics and communes in epidemic-threatened areas according to regulations to limit the spread of pathogens; organize the prevention of illegal transportation of animals and animal products across the border; strictly direct the implementation of animal transportation quarantine and slaughter control in the country.

Regarding the Blue Ear disease in pigs, localities need to strictly direct the implementation of the work of preventing and controlling the Blue Ear disease in pigs according to current regulations; assign specific responsibilities to local authorities and the local veterinary system in monitoring old epidemics and high-risk areas; guide farmers to apply disease-safe livestock farming measures, and comply with mandatory vaccination against dangerous diseases in pigs according to regulations.

The People's Committees of provinces and cities shall issue documents to direct lower-level authorities, local departments and branches to further promote their roles and responsibilities in organizing animal disease prevention and control; assign specific tasks to relevant units and individuals; proactively develop specific plans on resources, vaccine reserves, disinfectants and treatment plans if animal disease outbreaks arise; organize epidemic prevention and control on duty during Tet and make daily reports on animal disease situations to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Department of Animal Health) for coordination in handling.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development assigned the Department of Animal Health to establish delegations to urge and guide disease prevention and control work in some key areas; regularly report on animal disease situations and disease prevention and control work to the Ministry to promptly handle arising issues.

According to Chinhphu.vn