Chapter 5 Animal Disease Prevention and Control

China followed the strategy of prevention first, and adopted an integrated vaccination and culling measure on disease control in light of the guideline of “strengthening leadership and coordination and relying on science and law for disease prevention and control with a participatory approach and decisive disposal”. Good progress was made.

5.1 Prevention and control of major animal diseases

5.1.1 Vaccination

MOA issued on January 10th 2012 the National Plan for Compulsory Vaccination against Animal Diseases 2012, providing for five major animal diseases subject to compulsory vaccination, namely HPAI, FMD, HP-PRRS, swine fever, and PPR.

―　 The general requirements for compulsory vaccination against HPAI, HP-PRRS, FMD and swine fever were: population-based vaccination coverage shall be kept at over 90% all year through, while the coverage for target animals shall be at 100%, and the efficacy of vaccination-induced antibody be maintained at over 70%.

―　　 The general requirements for compulsory vaccination against PPR were: compulsory vaccination is applied to such areas as Tibet, Xinjiang, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps; and population-based vaccination coverage shall be kept at over 90% all year through, while the coverage for target sheep/goat shall be at 100%.

The budget for compulsory vaccination program will be prorated between central and provincial government.

Following the national plan for compulsory vaccination, local authorities developed region-specific programs. Backyard animals and poultry were subject to mass vaccination in spring and autumn, supported by monthly complementary vaccination. Large-scale farms applied vaccination according to specified procedures. All localities followed strictly requirements for transportation and storage to ensure quality of vaccine; delivered technical training on vaccination for township and village-level animal health workers to base their conducts on standards; conducted regular monitoring and evaluation of vaccination outcomes; set up vaccination files, documenting in details standing population, marketed population, and vaccination status of livestock and poultry; and enhanced vaccination reporting. Vaccination status and vaccine procurement were reported monthly. During the mass vaccination processes in spring and autumn, vaccination progress was reported weekly. In case of major outbreaks, vaccination activities were reported daily.

Table 5-1 Requirements for Compulsory Vaccination against Animal Diseases in 2012

In 2012, China consumed 15.29 billion doses of HPAI vaccine, 3.04 billion ml FMD vaccine, 1.96 billion ml vaccine for highly pathogenic PRRS, and 1.19 billion doses of swine fever vaccine. Nation-wide inspections in spring and autumn show that vaccination intensity is over 90% for all major animal diseases subject to compulsory vaccination. The rate of acceptable antibody level is above national standard.

5.1.2 Surveillance and epidemiological investigation

5.1.2.1 Surveillance

MOA issued on March 22, 2013 the National Animal Disease Surveillance Plan 2012, requiring that surveillance of animal diseases should be conducted according to 6 basic principles: combining national surveillance with local surveillance, sentinel surveillance with comprehensive surveillance, active surveillance with passive surveillance, regular surveillance with emergency surveillance, antibody surveillance with pathogen surveillance, and disease surveillance with epidemiologicalinvestigation. Provincial veterinary authorities may develop a local surveillance plan according to local conditions and the national surveillance plan. Priority diseases covered by the national surveillance plan include FMD, AI, brucellosis, glanders, and EIA, while surveillance of other diseases is the responsibility of local authorities. The surveillance results should be announced monthly, quarterly, semiannually, and annually.

The National Animal Disease Surveillance Plan 2012 covered 4 surveillance programmes, including the domestic animal disease surveillance plan, the surveillance plan for exotic animal diseases, the surveillance plan for FMD free zone in Hainan and specific equine disease free zone in Guangzhou, and the surveillance plan for national reference laboratories and specialized laboratories.

The domestic animal disease surveillance plan covered 11 diseases, including HPAI, FMD, HP-PRRS, swine fever, ND, brucellosis, bovine tuberculosis, schistosomiasis, rabies, EIA, and glanders;

The surveillance plan for exotic animal diseases covered 6 diseases, including BSE, scrapie, CBPP, PPS, African swine fever, blue-tongue disease (Europe Type 8);

The surveillance plan for FMD free zone in Hainan targeted FMD;

The surveillance plan for specific equine disease free zone in Guangzhou covered 14 diseases, including African horse sickness, Nipah disease, Hendra disease, West Nile fever, EIA, glanders, equine encephalomyelitis, equine piroplasm, equine viral arteritis, dourine, surra, vesicular stomatitis, equine influenza, Japanese encephalitis;

The surveillance plan for national reference laboratories and specialized laboratories covered the surveillance plan for the national FMD and AI reference laboratories, and specialized laboratories for AI, swine fever, ND and brucellosis.

Table 5-2 Major animal diseases subject to surveillance and

relevant requirements in 2012

In 2012, 4.98 million AI samples were tested across the country and 59 samples tested pathogen positive. FMD samples of 3.9 million were tested and 11 samples tested pathogen positive. Birds and animals with pathogen-positive results were disposed of according to the rules.

5.1.2.2 Epidemiological investigation

On March 22, 2012, MOA issued the National Epidemiological Investigation Program for Animal Diseases 2012 (Nongyifa [2012] No.3) to guide the regular, emergency, special and targeted epidemiological investigation. In 2012, MOA organized relevant agencies to strengthen epidemiological investigation of animal diseases and implemented over 20 epidemiological investigations. Such efforts further enhanced the epidemiological investigation and analysis capabilities of primary level veterinary technicians, promoted the application of epidemiological investigation technologies in the primary level disease control and ushered the epidemiological investigation of animal diseases into a new stage.

1) Regular epidemiological investigation

China Animal Health and Epidemiology Center and provincial animal disease control institutions established stations for epidemiological investigation with focus on the national animal disease surveillance and reporting stations and border animal disease surveillance stations. They aimed at monitoring the change of risk factors in the processes of animal farming, vaccination, distribution and slaughtering on a continuous basis, predicting the trend of disease development based on the result of serological and etiological surveillance of specific animal diseases, evaluating the effect of disease prevention and control and improving the relevance of the prevention and control.

Regular epidemiological investigation in 2012 included basic information investigation (animal farming, animal vaccination, slaughtering and processing and poultry and livestock price investigation), provincial regular epidemiological investigation (provinces established disease-specific epidemiological investigation stations and conduct epidemiological investigation on a regular basis), national regular epidemiological investigation etc. To be specific, the national regular epidemiological investigation included the investigations into major poultry diseases such as AI and ND, pig diseases, brucellosis in livestock, tuberculosis in dairy cattle, and schistosomiasis, etc.

According to the requirements of the work plan for regular epidemiological investigation in 2012, 19 provinces including Heilongjiang, Liaoning and Hainan, and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps conducted investigation into major poultry diseases, to learn about the distribution, vaccination, and pathogen mutation of major poultry diseases including ND, Marek's disease, infectious bursal disease, leukemia, salmonellosis, etc. Targeted epidemiological investigation and etiological surveillance of AI were conducted in April/May and October/November respectively; 14,310 throat and cloacal swabs were collected and tested from 382 sites including live bird markets, poultry farms, abattoirs, administrative villages etc; and 210 samples of wild bird feces were collected from areas close to the Qinghai Lake. Patterns for the spread of AI were learned, virus mutation was discovered and timely early warning was issued. Epidemiological investigation and testing of major diseases of pig herds were conducted for four times in 16 provinces including Guangxi and Yunnan, to learn the spread dynamics, development trend, prevention and control effects of major pig herd diseases, including CSF, PRRS (including HP-PRRS), pseudo-rabies, porcine circovirus type 2, etc.

2) Emergency epidemiological investigation

For each suspect or confirmed case of major animal diseases such as HPAI and FMD, or suspect cases of exotic animal diseases (such as African swine fever and BSE), or in case of new outbreak or an outbreak of diseases that lead to massive disease or death of animals within a short period of time and spread rapidly, veterinary authorities at all levels organized and implemented emergency epidemiological investigation in a timely manner to determine the causes of the disease and risk factors, judge the spreading trend, put forward proposals of prevention and control measures or evaluate the prevention and control effect.

3) Special epidemiological investigation

Regarding specific questions encountered in the prevention and control of major animal diseases, China Animal Health and Epidemiology Center and relevant provincial animal disease control institutions launched special investigation and study as the situation required and provided consultation for decision-making by the livestock and veterinary authorities.

According to the requirements of the work plan for special epidemiological investigation in 2012, several investigations were launched.

In 12 provinces including Heilongjiang, Liaoning and Gansu and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, 3 counties with big pig population were selected respectively to conduct investigation of pig herd health conditions (questionnaire investigation in 133 counties and field investigation in 36 counties and 1,720 farms/households) to learn about the level of management of pig farming of different types and different scales and the animal health conditions.

In 11 provinces including Liaoning, Hebei, Sichuan, investigations into the effect of clinical application of vaccines of CSF and PRRS were conducted.

In 15 provinces, including Heilongjiang, Liaoning, and Guangxi, investigations for clinical application of FMD vaccines were conducted, to understand current situation of vaccination against major livestock diseases, clinical results of bidder's vaccines, quality of vaccines, relation between vaccination and diseases, as well as exogenous microbiological contamination of live vaccines.

In Tibet, risk assessment and investigation for PPR was conducted, to comprehensively understand prevalence and spread of PPR virus in Tibet upon vaccination, evaluate the implementation of current prevention and control and risk management measures, and identify policies and measures for zoning management.

Epidemiological investigation for piglet dysentery was conducted in 12 provinces and regions, including Liaoning, Hebei, and Sichuan, to understand epidemiological dispersion of piglet dysentery, as well as prevention and control measures and results in local areas, and analyze the molecular epidemiological characteristics of major pathogens.

Investigation of ruminant diseases was conducted in 15 provinces, including Heilongjiang, Liaoning, and Guangxi, to understand the epidemiological dispersion of bluetongue, BVD/ mucosal disease and other ruminant diseases.

4) Targeted epidemiological investigation

Whenever there was risk of exotic diseases and outbreak of emerging diseases, or impact of natural disaster, change of environment or climate and other factors was exerted on the outbreak and spread of animal diseases, or risk of outbreak of diseases during major festivals, events, and important activities needed to be evaluated, MOA and provincial livestock and veterinary authorities would conduct targeted epidemiological investigation as needed.

5.2 Zoonoses control

MOA was well-organized to effectively prevent and control zoonoses, including schistosomiasis, brucellosis, echinococcosis, rabies, and anthrax according to the guideline of improving mechanisms, focusing on priorities and beefing up policy support.

MOA continued surveillance and vaccination efforts, conducted epidemiological research and relevant work, continued to carry out advanced pilot projects on comprehensive control in Inner Mongolia, Jilin Province and Beijing, and guided the implementation of surveillance, vaccination and culling in relevant provinces. According to the National Animal Disease Surveillance Plan 2012, zoning was applied to brucellosis control. Three regions were designated across the country based on epidemic situation and human cases, namely Category I region, Category II region and eradication region. Different plans of surveillance and vaccination were applied in different regions. In 2012, 17,640,681 animals from across the country, excluding Tibet, were investigated, among which 3,568,819 dairy cattle, 1,066,300 other cattle, and 13,005,562 sheep. 115,750 diseased and positive animals were culled, among which 7,647 dairy cattle, 1,726 other cattle, and 106,377 sheep.

Surveillance and epidemiological investigation were continually conducted this year. According to the Epidemiological Investigation Plan for Animal Diseases 2012, one county (district) with a large number of dairy cattle was selected from each and every 23 provinces, including Heilongjiang, and Xinjiang Production and Construction Crops to carry out epidemiological investigation, and understand dairy cattle types for bovine tuberculosis and positive cases for PBD. This move covered 411,364 animals to conduct etiological test and analyze its epidemic characteristics and relevant risk factors.

MOA continued to implement the Integrated Prevention and Control Plan for Schistosomiasis. In 7 provinces, MOA further scaled up livestock examination and treatment, grazing ban, construction of safe grazing ground, and other integrated prevention and control measures, to consolidate the results of integrated prevention and control, with a decline of contamination rate of livestock, and downsizing of affected area. In accordance with the National Animal Disease Surveillance Plan 2012, in 7 provinces, namely Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu, Yunnan and Sichuan, samples were collected and tested from April to May and from September to October; at the same time, epidemiological investigations at surveillance stations for schistosomiasis were continuously conducted as required.

MOA continued to implement the action plan for its control, conducted pilot projects in Sichuan, Gansu, Qinghai, Xinjiang, and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, further scaled up input, and comprehensively implemented integrated control measures, including prevention management, deworming measures, and vaccination, to decrease positive cases among livestock.

MOA carried out surveillance and epidemiological investigation for rabies in focused provinces. The focus was on rural dogs, cats, urban stray dogs, stray cats, and dogs and cats in animal clinics; the surveillance included immunological surveillance and pathogen surveillance. The immunological surveillance was conducted mainly by testing vaccinated dogs randomly on the antibody level; the pathogen surveillance targeted at tests on sick animals: brain tissues of dogs, cats and other livestock were sampled and sent to laboratory for confirmation after they died from rabies or culled.

5.3 Prevention of exotic animal diseases

The Chinese government has always attached great importance to the prevention and control of trans-boundary animal diseases, particularly exotic animal diseases. In 2012, MOA further scaled up prevention and control in bordering areas, stuck to the principle of “prevention from inside and blocking from outside”, improved inter-agency joint prevention and control to prevent introduction of exotic diseases through the border.

l　　　 Scaling up surveillance and early-warning of exotic animal diseases. Surveillance stations of animal diseases in bordering areas were given full play, diseases surveillance and information were gathered and analyzed, diseases trends were scientifically researched into and judged to provide evidence to prevention and control decision-making.

l　　　 Scaling up special prevention and control efforts of African swine fever. To combat African swine fever, MOA further scaled up prevention and control efforts and strengthened surveillance in border areas. In November 2012, 10 ministries including MOA, AQSIQ, and General Administration of Customs jointly issued the Notification on Implementation of Prevention and Control of African Swine Fever, to comprehensively map out prevention and control of African swine fever and guard against introduction of the disease.

l　　　 Strengthening prevention and blocking of animal epidemics on foreign soil. Strengthening the establishment of targeted vaccination isolation strip in border areas to scale up inspection at the border and build protective screen for disease prevention in border areas. Organizing liaison working groups for many times to monitor and supervise in bordering areas, and implementing various prevention and control measures.

l　　　 Deepening education and campaign as well as training for prevention and control of exotic diseases. Handing out over 20,000 charts on education of exotic diseases. Conducting trainings on surveillance and sampling of exotic diseases for primary level veterinarians from Henan, Inner Mongolia, Tibet, Yunnan, Qinghai, Gansu, Xinjiang, among other provinces and regions, with 700 persons trained accumulatively.

The National Animal Disease Surveillance Plan 2012 listed 6 major exotic animal diseases, including BSE, scrapie, CBPP, PPR, ASF, and bluetongue (European Type 8).

In 2012, more than 20,000 samples were tested, among which 6,345 BSE samples, 3,895 scrapie samples, 6,188 PPR samples, 6,929 African-swine-fever samples, 736 Nipah virus encephalitis samples (558 horses, 178 pigs), 417 CBPP samples for serological test, 3,895 CBPP samples for etiological test, and 12,282 PRRS (European Type 8) samples were tested. All tests proved negative.

5.4 Emergency response to major animal diseases

In 2012, MOA and governments at all levels continued to improve the contingency system and plan for major animal diseases, response drill and training, and emergency material reserves to beef up emergency response.

In 2012, MOA and governments at all levels continued to improve the contingency plan and strengthen construction of emergency system. In order to strengthen the prevention and control as well as emergency response during holidays and major events, MOA formulated contingency plans for the New Year, the Spring Festival, and the National Day and other major holidays and festivals to guide local authorities to take actions. Besides, MOA launched revision of relevant special plans and sectoral plans in a timely manner. All local authorities formulated contingency plans for major animal epidemics in their own administrative regions, with a contingency plan system covering the whole country initially established.

Drawing on previous experience, MOA continued to build the capacity of emergency response teams and improve the emergency response resource reserve system. Emergency response teams were set up across the country and participated in training activities and emergency drill on a regular basis; reserve resource system was established at provincial, municipal and county level. A certain amount of vaccines, disinfectants and protective equipment have been reserved at the community level and replaced with new arrivals periodically.

MOA continued to guide animal husbandry departments and veterinary services at all levels to carry out training activities and emergency drills. Through these efforts, the departments increased their capacity of dealing with emergencies. During 25-28 September 2012, MOA held a national workshop in Beijing on animal disease emergency management, which was attended by a total of 98 people from emergency response teams in 31 provinces, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, and the cities listed in the State Social and Economic Development Plan. Emergency drills were organized at the provincial, municipal and county level to cope with major animal diseases.

MOA made full use of focal points, each responsible for inspection and monitoring of major animal diseases in a specific region. In 2012, MOA sent a total of 95 inspection teams of 370 people to guide local control work. At the same time, MOA tightened the rules for reporting and verifying diseases, and verified 50 cases reported by the public and social media in 2012. Considering that some regions were susceptible to natural disasters, MOA sent early warnings to high-risk areas in a timely manner and guided them to develop targeted control plans and get well prepared for emergencies in all aspects. MOA made quick response in the wake of disasters, by deploying emergency supplies and providing guidance on bio-safety disposal, environmental decontamination and emergency vaccination. Thanks to the efforts, no major animal diseases or zoonoses of animal origin took place in disaster-hit regions, nor did serious incidents related to quality and safety of animal products.

5.5 Zoning Management

In 2012, MOA continued zoning management to control animal diseases, improved rules and standards governing disease-free zones and compartments, encouraged and guided the establishment of disease-free zones and compartments across the country, in order to enhance the capacity of local authorities in disease control and zoning management.

Liaoning Province began to establish specific disease free zones (DFZs) in 1998. In 2001, the establishment of demonstration DFZ was launched on Liaodong Peninsula. In 2003, the Measures of Liaoning Province for the Management of Specific Animal Disease Free Zones (Liaoning Provincial Government Notice No.161) was promulgated and put into effect. In 2007, the People’s Government of Liaoning Province published the Notice on Strengthening Management of Animals Introduced to Specific Animal Disease Free Zones in Liaoning Province (Liaozhengfa [2007] No. 32). Thus, the whole Liaoning Province was recognized as free of specific animal diseases for the first time and became subject to stringent supervision measures on the movement of introduced animals and their products. This signaled that the DFZ has been extended from Liaodong Peninsula to the whole province. In 2011, the Government of Liaoning Province promulgated Liaoning Government Notice No. 250, amended the Measures of Liaoning Province for the Management of Specific Animal Disease Free Zones, and announced that “the administrative areas within Liaoning Province should be managed according to the same standards used in the disease-free zone”. Thus, the management of the disease-free zone in Liaoning Province had a strong legal foundation. From February to March in 2012, the National Expert Committee on Animal Health Risk Assessment conducted written assessment and field assessment of Liaoning FMD-free zones with vaccination, in accordance with the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Animal Disease Control, Management Measures for Assessment of Specific Disease Free Zones, as well as relevant technical standards. On August 3 2012, MOA announced in its Notice No. 1810 that Liaoning FMD-free zones with vaccination met national standards. Following the outbreak of Type-O FMD on November 19 2012, in Puwan District, Dalian City of Liaoning Province, MOA announced the removal of the province’s qualification for DFZ in Notice No. 1866 issued on November 30 2012, in accordance with the Law of the PRC on Animal Disease Control and the Evaluation Measures for Specific Animal Disease Free Zones.

Figure 5-1 Map of FMD-free zones with vaccination in Liaoning

In May 2010, the government of Jilin Prefecture signed the Protocol for Establishing China Jilin (Singapore) Modern Agricultural Cooperation Food Zones in Specific Disease Free Zones with the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore, as a way to implement the consensus reached by the Premier of China and the Prime Minister of Singapore to jointly establish food zones in Yongji County of Jilin Province. In September 2010, the Government of Jilin Province promulgated the Evaluation and Implementation Plan for the Establishment of FMD Free Zones with Vaccination in Yongji City of Jilin Province, signaling the launch of the establishment of FMD free zones with vaccination in Yongji County. In July 2012, the National Expert Committee for Animal Health Risk Assessment carried out on-the-spot evaluation of the FMD free zones with vaccination, in accordance with the Law of the PRC on Animal Disease Control, Evaluation Measures for Specific Animal Disease Free Zones, as well as relevant technical specifications. On August 2 2012, MOA issued the Notice No. 1811, stating that the DFZs in Yongji County of Jilin Province had met national standards. The zones in Yongji County have also been recognized by Singapore, offering a favorable environment for the establishment of China-Singapore food industrial parks.

Figure 5-2 Map of Yongji FMD-free zones with vaccination in Jilin Province

The government of Hainan Province acted actively to maintain the disease free status. The system for animal disease control in disease free zones worked effectively.

Legal framework. In 2012, Hainan Province promulgated the Regulations on Management of Specific Diseases Free Zones in Hainan, in which the responsibilities and obligations of governments and agencies at different levels and other social sectors in building and upgrading disease free zones were clearly defined. Thus, a sound legal framework for the establishment of disease free zones was established.

Construction and maintenance of shields. Local governments continued to strengthen the disease control system which mainly relied on animal disease supervision and inspection stations, animal quarantine stations, and bio-safety disposal sites at the provincial level. Video monitoring and digital information-based management methods were introduced to some of major inspection stations. In 2012, local authorities supervised, checked, quarantined and tracked 4,233 vehicles which transported animals and animal products from other provinces. In addition, local authorities actively quarantined animals in places of birth, and quarantined 2.757 million pigs and 294,000 cattle and sheep/goats. They detected and disposed of, in a bio-safe way, 2600 animals infected with diseases.

Vaccination and surveillance. In 2012, local authorities vaccinated 7.9045 million pigs, 1.4415 million cattle and 1.0377 million sheep/goats. The vaccination coverage was 100 percent. They also monitored FMD pathogens and vaccination-induced antibodies in 613 large-scale animal farms, 4,074 backyard farms, and 89 abattoirs and trading markets. They tested 27,254 samples for pathogen and the results were all negative. They also tested 19,748 samples for vaccination-induced antibody level, among which 82.6 percent were up to the standard.

Guangdong Province set up filing record on equine animals within its jurisdiction, vaccinated and monitored equine animals and susceptible animals, and prevented the introduction of insect pollination and wild animals. As a result, the disease control system was maintained and strengthened, no specific animal diseases broke out, and the disease free status was retained. In 2012, the zones were free of 12 out of 14 diseases on the list of 14 high-priority equine diseases without vaccination, including African Horse Sickness. The zones were free from Japanese Encephalitis and equine influenza with vaccination. Local authorities vaccinated equine animals against equine influenza and Japanese encephalitis, and vaccinated pigs against Japanese encephalitis.

In 2012, local authorities conducted two sampling surveillance programs on equine diseases, collected 6,429 samples, including 2,673 samples of pig serum, 2,821 samples of pig brain tissue, 735 samples of ruminant serum, and 200 samples of mosquitoes. The etiological surveillance showed negative results in all tests. Local authorities monitored farming practices of equine animals and susceptible animals as well as the outbreak of specific animal diseases, and did not find Japanese encephalitis, Surra, vascular stomatitis and Nipah disease.

Table 5-3 Survey questionnaire for equine disease-free zone in Conghua County of Guangzhou

5.6 National plan for animal disease control

On May 20, 2012, the State Council published the National Medium and Long-term Plan for Animal Disease Control (2012-2020) (Guobanfa [2012] No.31, hereinafter referred to as the Plan), which is the guideline for animal disease prevention and control for a certain period of time in the future, where the guiding ideology, development goal, major tasks and relevant solutions for the work of prevention and control from 2012 to 2020 are identified. The Plan is an important landmark in the history of animal disease prevention and control in China and symbolizes that there is a brand new work deployment in place at the national top-level design and that the prevention and control work in China has entered a new phase. Targeting the protection of animal production and human health, the Plan indicated that prevention and control work should be disease-specific and region-specific, and may be carried out in phases according to the Plan. In addition, efforts will be made to establish a long-term mechanism for the prevention and control of animal diseases.

5.6.1.1 Objectives

In light of assessment of the impact on economy and public health, disease transmission capability, prevention technology, economic and social viability, etc., the Plan identified 16 domestic animal diseases that need prioritized prevention and control and 13 exotic animal diseases that need special attention and prevention.

Table 5-3 Major animal diseases for prevention and control

Goals of the Plan are as follows: to forge the animal disease prevention and control capability that suits the needs of a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way so as to protect animal production safety, animal product quality safety and public health; to meet the standards determined by the Plan for the 16 domestic animal diseases for prioritized prevention and control including FMD and HPAI with morbidity of live pigs, poultry, cattle and sheep reduced to 5%, 6%, 4%, and 3% respectively and animal morbidity, mortality and public health risk reduced significantly; to effectively reduce the introduction and transmission risk of the 13 exotic animal diseases including BSE and African swine fever with prevention and handling capability for exotic animal diseases considerably improved; to forge better infrastructure and institutions, more solid legal system and science and technology guarantee system, more stable fiscal input mechanism and to provide better social services.

5.6.1.2. General strategy

Regarding the prioritized diseases for prevention and control, the Plan identified three major strategies:

―　 Strategy of planed prevention and control for major animal diseases and major zoonoses which helps with the control, decontamination and elimination of major disease that have heavy impact on animal production and public health, and facilitates progress into none clinical case with vaccination against major diseases, so as to lay foundation for no infection with vaccination and no infection without vaccination.

―　　 Strategy for animal health improvement, to complete the health standards for breeder animals, carry out the plan for disease elimination in breeder animal farms and improve supervision and regulation on disease prevention conditions of animal farms so as to improve bio-security, strengthen source control and improve over-all animal health.

―　　 Strategy for prevention of exotic animal diseases, which emphasizes improving risk management against major exotic animal diseases that have not been introduced to China, consolidating border disease surveillance system and emergent disease response mechanism, improving risk assessment, quarantine and traceability systems for imported animal and animal products as well as strengthening capacity building for exotic animal diseases supervision and inspection.

5. 6.1.3 Key tasks

The Plan identified 5 key tasks:

―　　 To control 5 major animal diseases such as FDM and HPAI;

―　　 To control the 5 major zoonoses including brucellosis;

―　　 To eliminate glanders and equine infectious anemia;

―　　 To clear major diseases of breeder poultry and animals; and

―　　 To prevent introduction of exotic animal diseases such as BSE.

The Plan identified key prevention and control measures regarding each task, developed periodic and regional target and worked out relevant criteria for performance review. In terms of animal diseases for prioritized prevention and control, the Ministry of Agriculture is working with other relevant departments to develop individual plans for 6 specific diseases namely FMD (type A, Asia I and O), HPAI, brucellosis, rabies, schistosomiasis and echinococcosis, and published 6 policy papers to guide the clearance of highly pathogenic PRRS, swine fever, ND, tuberculosis in dairy cattle, breeder poultry farm diseases and breeder pig farm diseases respectively. Local authorities should work out and implement regional plan for animal disease prevention and control, in line with local sanitation conditions and economic and social development status.

Figure 5-3 MOA held a meeting in Beijing in July 2012 to publicize the Plan

MOA released implementation suggestions targeting the Plan, issued plan for implementation for works falling within its mandate and organized the drafting of prevention and control plans against AI, FMD and brucellosis. In light of local animal health conditions and economic and social development status, local authorities initiated drafting of regional animal disease prevention and control plans.

The Ministry of Agriculture formally published the National Plan for the Development of Veterinary Undertakings during the Twelfth Five-year Plan Period (2011-2015) on May 14 2012. This Plan examined condition for veterinary development during the Twelfth Five-year Plan period, identified general requirement, key tasks and guarantee measures and clarified the plan for veterinary development druing the Twelfth Five-year Plan period.

5.6.2.1 Basic goals

The Plan described the basic goals for veterinary development in the twelfth five-year plan period as follows: to deepen veterinary administrative system reform and establish public fiscal guarantee system for veterinary service; to perfect animal disease prevention and control mechanism, clarify responsibilities, eradicate 1-2 animal diseases such as glanders, realize no clinical infection with vaccination against major animal diseases and meet the clearance standards of major animal diseases in ancestral poultry farms and breeder pig farms; to considerably improve capacity in animal health supervision and enforcement, improve veterinary drug quality, strengthen regulation on veterinary drug residue in animal products, maintain compliance rate of above 90% in sampling inspection of veterinary drugs quality and compliance rate of above 99% in sampling inspections of veterinary drug residue in animal and poultry products; to enhance veterinary science and technological advancement and capability of independent innovation; to improve the qualification of veterinary personnel and to promote international cooperation and exchange in the veterinary field.

5.6.2.2 Main tasks

―　 Improve working institutions and mechanism and veterinary administration system.

―　 Launch the national medium and long-term animal disease control strategy, strengthen disease control at its source, enhance exotic animal disease risk control, gradually control and eradicate major animal diseases.

―　 Strengthen animal health supervision and management, promote whole-chain supervision of animal product safety, and promote the establishment of traceability system and zoning management.

―　 Establish and improve veterinary drug supervision and technical support system, strengthen veterinary drug supervision, and comprehensively improve veterinary drug supervision capacity and level.

―　 Accelerate the development of new type of veterinary system and veterinarian team, promote and support social veterinary service system.

―　 Accelerate veterinary science and technology advancement; innovate veterinary science and technology development system, focus on priorities, and support the development of traditional Chinese veterinary medicine.

―　 Intensify international veterinary exchange and cooperation, participate in the international veterinary affairs in all-round way, align domestic veterinary work with international practice, and enhance bilateral and multilateral cooperation.

Chapter 6 Veterinary Administrative Law Enforcement

The Chinese government constantly strengthens veterinary law enforcement, animal health supervision and administration and veterinary drug residue control, continues promoting the development of animal identification and animal product traceability system, and improving quality and safety supervision capacity for animal health and animal product.

6.1 Animal Health supervision and law enforcement

In 2012, the Ministry of Agriculture continued strengthening animal health supervision, promoting animal disease prevention certification, and supervision of biosafety disposal of animals died of diseases. It issued the Notice of the General Office of the Ministry of Agriculture on Conducting Assessment and Evaluation of Law Enforcement Capacity for Animal Health Supervision (Nongbanyi [2012] No. 58). Assessment and evaluation of law enforcement capacity for animal health supervision was carried out across the country, with cross-inspection organized, statistics of county level supervision agencies synthesized, and township level animal health supervision law enforcement capacity further enhanced.

6.1.1 Inspection of animals and animal products

Inspection of animals and animal products in China includes inspection at the production place and at the slaughterhouse. Veterinary authorities at different levels are responsible for the formulation and implementation of the related plans, policies, standards and norms for such inspection within their respective administrative areas. Animal health supervision institutions at different levels function in accordance with the Law of the People's Republic of China on Animal Diseases Control, and are responsible for supervision and law enforcement of animal and animal product inspection and other animal disease prevention activities, including designating official veterinarians to conduct on-site inspection for animals and animal products, issuing certificate, giving inspection label, and supervising the biosafety disposal of animals and animal products that have failed the inspection, among others, within their respective administrative areas. In 2012, inspection at the production place covered 9.276 billion birds and animals, and that at the slaughterhouse covered 5.995 billion birds and animals. Animal health supervision institutions at various levels inspected 62,000 poultry and livestock markets, with 304 million animals and 2.475 billion birds inspected, and 5.8631 million tons of animal products inspected.

6.1.2 Inspection of animal disease prevention conditions

Local veterinary authorities act according to the Law on Animal Diseases Control and the Measures for Reviewing Animal Disease Prevention Conditions, conduct inspection of the animal disease prevention conditions of the animal farms (animal farming communities), isolation premises, animal slaughtering and processing premises, and animal and animal product biosafety disposal sites within their respective administrative areas, issue the Certificate for Qualified Animal Disease Prevention Conditions, and conduct supervision of the animal disease prevention conditions at markets trading animals and animal products. Animal health supervision agencies are responsible for supervision and law enforcement of animal disease prevention conditions with their respective administrative areas. Through animal disease prevention conditions review, the government includes animal farming and marketing, and animal product production and marketing activities into its animal health supervision. In 2012, altogether 101,100 Certificates for Qualified Animal Disease Prevention Conditions were issued across the country.

6.1.3 Animal health supervision

6.1.3.1 Capacity building

Continue strengthening animal health supervision assessment and training; continuously enhance animal health supervision and law enforcement capacity. In July 2012, the Ministry of Agriculture organized a High-level Workshop for Directors of Provincial Level Animal Health Supervision Agencies, to improve leadership and management skills and policy and theoretical knowledge of relevant personnel. Training courses on community-level supervision and law enforcement and quarantine regulations were organized, to improve the capacity of regulatory agencies in administration, supervision and law enforcement. Animal health supervision and law enforcement capacity assessment and evaluation was carried out across the country from August to October, 2012, to promote capacity building for animal health supervision and law enforcement.

6.1.3.2 Special rectification

In 2012, special rectification campaigns were conducted targeting designated sites for pig slaughtering and the monitoring of "lean meat powder". In November 2011, the Ministry of Agriculture and 6 other Ministries / Commissions, including the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Public Security, jointly issued the Notice on Conducting Special Rectification to Crack down on Illegal Slaughtering and Enhance Meat Product Hygiene and Safety (Shangzhifa (2011) No. 355). It required that, from January to July 2012, the Ministry of Agriculture, together with 9 other agencies, including the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Health and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, jointly carry out designated pig slaughtering sites qualification review and clearance, crack down on illegal slaughtering throughout the country, correct pig slaughtering conducts violating the rules, strengthen slaughtering site management, impose strict inspection and quarantine measures on pig slaughtering, strengthen supervision of slaughtering.

In December 2012, the Ministry of Agriculture organized Nation-wide Training Course on "Lean Meat Powder" Supervision and Law Enforcement, to summarize experience and improve law enforcement capacity. In the first ten months of 2012, altogether 2,664,000 person-times of law enforcement officers were dispatched to conduct inspection on 2,485,000 production and marketing operators, taking 10.4 million batches of samples, 124 illegal cases related to "lean meat powder" were investigated, with 95 cases forwarded to the public security agencies. Surveillance results indicated that the pass rate of sampling inspection for "lean meat powder" was 99.7%.

6.2 Biosafety disposal of animals which die of diseases

In 2012, following the requirements of the Law on Animal Diseases Control and the Administrative Measures for Animal Health Inspection, the Measures for Disposal of Animals Which die of Diseases and Unknown Causes (Trial), the Biosafety Disposal Procedures for Dead Animals and Infected Animal Products, etc., animal health supervision institutions at various levels across the country conducted supervision over the biosafety disposal of dead animals and related animal products. The Ministry of Agriculture issued the Notice of the Ministry of Agriculture on Further Strengthening the Supervision over Biosafety Disposal of Animals Which Die of Diseases (Nongyifa (2012) No. 12), to further improve the disposal mechanism for animals which die of diseases.

6.3 Veterinary drug residue monitoring and control

6.3.1 Veterinary drug residue testing plan

In 2012, according to the requirement of the Monitoring and Control Plan for Veterinary Drug Residues in Animals and Animal Products 2012 (Nongyifa (2012) No. 6), 13,808 batches of samples from chicken, pigs, cattle, sheep/goats, etc., were tested, and 19 drugs were covered (see the table below), with a overall pass rate of 99.91%.

Table 6-1 Test for veterinary drug residues in animal products in 2012

In 2012, the Ministry of Agriculture continued the implementation of special rectification campaign on the use of antibacterial, reinforced law enforcement, severely cracked down on over-doses, over-scope, breach of withdraw period and other illegal conducts of antibacterial abuse, strengthened the supervision over veterinary drug usage, actively conducted publicity campaigns on safe use of veterinary drugs with guidance provided, supervised and guided the livestock farming companies and farmers in establishment of drug-use records, improved veterinary drug use archives, strictly enforced regulations on drug withdraw period, and effectively controlled the hazards of veterinary drug residues.

In 2012, the Ministry of Agriculture continued the implementation of the Monitoring Plan for Drug Resistance of Bacteria of Animal Origin, and improved relevant technical standards and working mechanisms. The Ministry actively organized veterinary drug resistance investigation, surveillance and study of its mechanism, formulating bacteria isolation, identification and resistance test quality standard. Altogether 7,699 samples were collected and 3,310 samples were isolated and tested.

6.4 Biosafety supervision of veterinary laboratories

The Ministry of Agriculture issued the Notice of the General Office of the Ministry of Agriculture on Strengthening the Biosafety Management of Highly Pathogenic Microbe Laboratories during the Period of the NPC &CPPCC Sessions, and the Notice of the General Office of the Ministry of Agriculture on Further Improving the Biosafety Management of Animal Pathogenic Microbe Laboratories, which further elaborated the relevant requirements for strengthening biosafety regulation of veterinary laboratories. The administrative approval system for biosafety regulation was further improved, with the Norms on Administrative Approval on Biosafety of Animal Pathogenic Microbe Laboratories formulated. Training courses were organized on veterinary system laboratory quality control and biosafety knowledge, attended by over 100 trainees from across the country.

Article source: MOA