Proactively handle dangerous epidemics in livestock and poultry

The People's Committee of Ha Tinh province has just issued the "Plan for preventing and controlling livestock and poultry diseases in 2024", emphasizing the need to proactively prepare plans, human resources, and materials to handle dangerous epidemics when they occur.

According to the plan, the whole province will organize 2 periodic vaccination campaigns for livestock and poultry (Phase 1: March - April 2024 and Phase 2: September - October 2024). In addition to the main vaccination campaigns, supplementary vaccinations will be regularly carried out for livestock and poultry that are required to be vaccinated but have not been vaccinated in the main campaign, those that have expired their immunity period, and those that have just emerged.

Vaccination is an effective measure in disease prevention.

Vaccines for cattle and buffalo include: foot and mouth disease, septicemia, lumpy skin disease; for pigs, vaccination against septicemia, classical swine fever, foot and mouth disease. In which: for small-scale livestock farming, households vaccinate sows and boars against foot and mouth disease; farmers are encouraged to vaccinate sows and boars against blue ear disease.

For poultry: vaccinate against avian influenza, Newcastle disease (chickens, quails), and duck cholera (ducks, geese). For dogs and cats: vaccinate against rabies.

The vaccination rate for diseases requiring mandatory vaccination must reach over 80% of the total herd subject to mandatory vaccination and for rabies in dogs and cats, the vaccination rate must reach over 70% of the total herd of dogs and cats.

In addition to the mandatory vaccines that must be regularly administered according to regulations, livestock farmers are advised to proactively vaccinate their livestock against common and emerging diseases. Strengthen inspection and strictly handle organizations and individuals that do not vaccinate livestock according to the law.

Regarding disease surveillance and vaccination surveillance, it is necessary to monitor diseases in villages, hamlets, residential groups, blocks, and livestock facilities to detect and report promptly; focus on thoroughly handling outbreaks as soon as they appear. Promote the role and responsibility of livestock breeders, professional staff, and local authorities in monitoring, tracking, detecting, and promptly handling epidemics. Proactively conduct clinical surveillance; promptly inspect, collect samples, and send for diagnostic testing to confirm epidemics when livestock and poultry are found sick or dead for unknown reasons. Actively collect surveillance samples to predict and make early predictions of infectious diseases in livestock and poultry; collect post-vaccination surveillance samples to evaluate the protective effectiveness of vaccines in order to recommend vaccine use and implement appropriate and effective disease prevention and control measures.

In terms of sanitation, disinfection and sterilization, it is necessary to instruct livestock farmers to periodically clean, disinfect and sterilize barns, livestock areas and related areas. Launch and organize monthly and general cleaning and disinfection campaigns for livestock environments when dangerous infectious diseases occur, after floods, in old epidemic areas, high-risk areas, livestock facilities, animal markets, animal products, and slaughterhouses.

Regarding the handling of outbreaks and epidemic prevention, when livestock and poultry epidemics occur, local veterinary management agencies inspect and investigate outbreaks according to regulations, ensure timely information collection, accurate disease diagnosis; advise People's Committees at all levels to direct, deploy, and implement synchronously and promptly epidemic prevention measures according to regulations. People's Committees at district and commune levels urgently mobilize professional forces, the political system and allocate resources to deploy, drastically and promptly implement containment and control measures when the epidemic is still limited.

Regarding the management of trading, transportation and slaughter, it is necessary to strengthen the management of the buying, selling and transporting of animals and animal products in the area. Focus on directing and rectifying the management of slaughter, reviewing and upgrading centralized slaughterhouses to ensure hygiene conditions, gradually converting the form of slaughter on the floor to hanging slaughter; strictly checking the origin and status of livestock brought to centralized slaughterhouses; strictly implementing the slaughter control process according to regulations. Propagating to raise awareness of consumers in using livestock and poultry meat products that ensure veterinary hygiene and food safety and are slaughtered at centralized slaughterhouses.

In veterinary medicine management and veterinary practice, it is important to promote and disseminate legal regulations on veterinary practice conditions, veterinary drug trading conditions, and obligations of organizations and individuals practicing veterinary medicine and trading veterinary drugs to raise awareness and ensure that veterinary practice and trading activities are qualified and meet standards and quality as prescribed. Organize inspections and guide organizations and individuals trading and manufacturing the use of veterinary drugs in disease prevention and treatment to limit the abuse of antibiotics, and only use veterinary drugs in the list of veterinary drugs allowed for circulation. Absolutely do not trade or use antibiotics outside the list, banned antibiotics, raw antibiotics, and medical drugs in animal disease prevention and treatment.

In addition, it is necessary to build animal disease safety facilities and conduct periodic monitoring. Accordingly, guide and encourage livestock farms to build animal disease safety facilities according to the regulations of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Organize periodic inspections and assessments of facilities that have been granted disease safety certificates. Guide the implementation of animal disease monitoring programs for a number of dangerous infectious diseases to encourage livestock farm owners to proactively prevent and control animal diseases. Conduct monitoring at livestock breeding facilities, poultry breeding facilities and dairy cows for a number of diseases transmitted between humans and animals according to the regulations of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development...

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