Worms a threat to game birds as temperatures rise

//23 Jun 2011
This year’s dry spring and fluctuating temperatures have brought their own problems for farmers and livestock producers and with a potentially tough year ahead it might seem tempting to cut a few costs.
But one area where it doesn’t pay to economise is in the regular worming of game birds, advises Janssen Animal Health.
Although worm eggs can be destroyed by desiccation in warm, dry environments, game producers should be aware that the warm weather can actually encourage development of worm eggs into the infectious stages, particularly when they are lodged in nooks and crannies that retain humidity. Worms can be an all year round problem but are most frequently seen in spring and summer as temperatures rise and this year’s potential early start may actually have increased the risks.

Game farmer, Chris Elcock of Elcock Game, who still treats his birds at 4 and 6-7 weeks of age before selling to the various shoots around the north of England commented, “In my experience, warm dry weather like we are having at the moment, doesn’t reduce the threat from worms or gapeworms in particular. I find that partridge are particularly prone to gape worm infection around 5-6 weeks of age and if you don’t treat them the consequences can be devastating. It’s worth making sure your bought in birds have been treated because you really don’t want to be contaminating your rearing areas with worm eggs.”

The prepatent period for gapeworm – the time for the parasite to complete its lifecycle in the bird – is around 18-20 days. This means that even after treatment, birds can have adult worms present and be shedding eggs into the environment in less than 3 weeks, so it also important to treat regularly prior to release. A third dose is usually recommended at around 11-12 weeks of age.

Source: Janssen Animal Health

Experts: African Swine Fever still a threat despite absence of virus

//31 May 2011
Since 23 May the Mulino, Nizhny Novgorod region in Russia has been reported to no longer be under quarantine. The region was associated with an outbreak of African Swine Fever recently, but the absence of the virus has been confirmed on 13 May.
"Specialists have finished the organizational and animal health measures to eliminate hotbeds of African Swine Fever and to prevent the disease from spreading in adjacent territories in the period of quarantine from 18 April to 20 May,” stated the Committee of state veterinary control. “Since 23 May the sale of pork products to markets of the area is permitted," added region officials.

The quarantine was imposed following the registration of African Swine Fever found in a backyard in the Volodarsky region on 18 April. The Rostov region, where a few months earlier African Swine Fever was discovered, is also no longer under quarantine.

Epidemic still a threat
However, experts believe it is too early to say that the epidemic is receding - recently two new outbreaks were recorded in the Krasnodar region and the Vladimir region. In each case, the investigation of pathological material sampled from the dead pigs by the Russian Scientific Research Institute of Veterinary Virology and Microbiology, gave a positive result. Animals were infected with Classical Swine Fever.

Since the beginning of the year in Russia more than twenty cases of African Swine Fever were officially registered. According to experts there is a very high probability of occurrence of new virus outbreaks in the Kuban and the Caucasus regions.

Global threat: African Swine Fever spreading

//27 May 2011
Warning of a likely imminent upsurge of a deadly pig disease in the Caucasus region and Russian Federation, FAO today called on affected countries to step up precautionary measures and for a concerted international effort to prevent the infection spreading more widely across the Northern Hemisphere.
GLobal threat
“African swine fever is fast becoming a global issue,” said Juan Lubroth, FAO's Chief Veterinary Officer. “It now poses an immediate threat to Europe and beyond. Countries need to be on the alert and to strengthen their preparedness and contingency plans.”

Measures recommended for countries by FAO include risk analyses to evaluate the situation and assess potential consequences. Such analyses should pave the way for fully-fledged contingency plans and provide the rationale for selecting disease-control strategies.

Importantly, there is currently no vaccine for the disease, which is very often lethal to pigs but is not harmful to humans.

Preventive action
Preventive strategies include quarantine, on-farm security and other measures aimed at minimizing the risk of ASF being introduced and becoming established. Early-warning contingency plans include epidemiological information-gathering, training and awareness campaigns.

African Swine Fever (ASF) was introduced into Georgia from southern Africa late in 2006, entering through the Black Sea port of Poti, where garbage from a ship was taken to a dump where pigs came to feed. Currently, ASF is spreading northwards at the rate of roughly 350 km a year.

Outbreaks are distinctly seasonal, with the highest number of cases registered in the summer and autumn. But as the ASF wave travels northwards a separate phenomenon, long-distance “jumps", is also occurring.

Finland
For example in the spring of 2011 ASF suddenly appeared in the port of Murmansk, more than 3000 km from southern Russia, and close to the border with Finland. In 2009 it leaped 2000 kilometers to St Petersburg where, however, it appears to have been contained after a relapse at the end of 2010 and again in March 2011.

ASF long-distance jumps are food-borne, with virus surviving in pig meat products taken by travellers. At the destination, food scraps may be fed to pigs, setting off a new outbreak.
The frequency of such jumps is increasing as the originally-infected territory enlarges. The ASF virus strain now spreading is a very aggressive one.

Buffer zone
ASF is now considered as being established in Georgia, Armenia and the southern part of the Russian Federation. And the number of long-distance outbreaks has increased this year.

Russia plans to set up a buffer zone next to the infected region, which may involve suspension of pig production in certain areas and measures directed at wild boar populations.

Still, progress will be difficult as farmers often appear not to be reporting ASF outbreaks for fear of seeing their pigs culled without adequate compensation.

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)