Meat+Poultry - December 2021 - 30

YEAR IN REVIEW
An outbreak of ASF would
immediately halt exports
of US pork, and limit
movement of live animals
and pork products.
the country; surveillance outside containment
and/or protection zones; screening; quarantine;
official destruction of animal products; official
disposal of carcasses, byproducts and waste;
stamping out; control of wildlife reservoirs;
zoning and disinfection.
PROMISING DEVELOPMENT
As animal health experts worked to prevent
the introduction of ASF into the United States,
scientists with the Agricultural Research
Service developed a promising vaccine that
appeared to prevent and effectively protect
both European and Asian bred swine against
the current circulating Asian strain of the virus.
The Asian strain of ASF is the strain currently
causing outbreaks and threatening the global
swine industry.
New research published by the USDA-ARS
in the journal Transboundary and Emerging
Diseases found that approximately 33% of the
swine given the vaccine showed the onset of
immunity by week two post-vaccination with
full protection in all swine achieved by the
fourth week.
ARS has engineered and patented five ASF
experimental vaccines and fully executed
seven licenses with pharmaceutical companies
to develop the vaccines. ARS continues to
evaluate more partners to develop these
vaccines on a commercial scale.
" We are excited that our team's research
has resulted in promising vaccine results
that are able to be repeated on a commercial
level, in different pig breeds, and by using a
recent ASFV isolate, " said Douglas Gladue,
an ARS researcher. " This signals that the live
attenuated vaccine candidate could play an
important role in controlling the ongoing
outbreak threatening the global pork supply. "
30 MEAT+POULTRY | 12.21 | www.meatpoultry.com
IN THE AI ZONE
This year, there were multiple findings of
highly pathogenic strains of avian influenza
across Great Britain, Europe and Asia.
China reported a sharp increase in the
number of people infected with H5N6. A travel
advisory from the UK Health Security Agency,
warned UK citizens, " A record number of
human cases with avian flu (H5N6) have been
reported from China with onset in 2021, with
22 cases reported in the last 10 months. Before
2021, the largest number of cases of avian flu in
China was in 2016 when nine human cases of
infection were reported. "
Most cases involved close contact with
an infected bird (dead or alive), and markets
where live birds are sold can be a source of
infection. China has not reported any personto-person
spread of H5N6.
The United Kingdom declared an Avian
Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) across Great
Britain in November after H5N1 was found in
wild birds. The AIPZ required all bird keepers
in Great Britain (whether they have pet birds,
commercial flocks or just a backyard flock) to
take a range of biosecurity precautions.
In France, Julien Denormandie, Minister of
Agriculture and Food, announced the country
was at " high risk " for highly pathogenic avian
influenza because of outbreaks in neighboring
countries. By the beginning of August, 130
cases or outbreaks of avian influenza were
detected in wildlife or in farms in Europe.
The Netherlands ordered the confinement of
all commercial farms following an outbreak
of H5N8 at a farm of laying hens. In Italy,
six outbreaks of H5N1 were detected in
broiler turkey farms in the Verona region,
Denormandie noted.
Japan reported its first avian influenza
outbreak of the winter in November.
Government officials confirmed the H5N8
strain at a laying hen farm in Yokote City
in Akita Prefecture. The OIE reported
143,000 birds were culled. South Korea also
reported outbreaks of H5N1 in wild birds and
poultry birds.
MORE DISEASE THREATS
In 2021, Canada notified trading partners of
its application to change its status from a
controlled-risk country for bovine spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE) to one of negligible
Aleksey Sagitov - stock.adobe.com
http://www.meatpoultry.com
Meat+Poultry - December 2021

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