https://www.porkbusiness.com/article/breaking-news-hog-cholera-reported-japan
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-12/05/c_137653361.htm
https://japantoday.com/category/national/3rd-case-of-hog-cholera-infection-found-in-central-japan
Classical Swine fever, more commonly known as hog cholera, has been identified on a farm in Japan. It has been 26 years since that country has had an outbreak of the devastating virus.
“On Sunday September 9th, Japan reported the occurrence of Classical Swine fever, in a farm located at Gifu Prefecture, in the central area of the country,” says a report from the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) on Monday morning. “Last week, one pig died suddenly, followed by the mortality of 80 others. On Sunday, officials declared the animals as tested positive for Classical Swine fever (CSF), also known as Hog Cholera.”
This occurrence is unrelated to the African Swine Fever (ASF) epidemic in China and other countries in Eastern Europe. SHIC reports that Japanese Veterinary Services have ruled out the occurrence of African Swine Fever (ASF) in this outbreak or in the country.
What is Classical Swine Fever?
Like ASF, CSF does not impact people, however it can be devastating to the pork industry because pork sales would be severely disrupted. The Merck Veterinary Manual’s description of Classical Swine fever follows:
Classical swine fever is a contagious, often fatal, disease of pigs clinically characterized by high body temperature, lethargy, yellowish diarrhea, vomiting, and a purple skin discoloration of the ears, lower abdomen, and legs. It was first described in the early 19th century in the USA. Later, a condition in Europe termed “swine fever” was recognized to be the same disease. Both names continue to be used, although in most of the world the disease is now called classical swine fever (CSF) to distinguish it from African swine fever (see African Swine Fever), which is a clinically indistinguishable disease but caused by an unrelated DNA virus.
CSFV is moderately fragile and does not persist in the environment or spread long distances by the airborne route. However, it can survive for prolonged periods in a moist, protein-rich environment such as pork tissues or body fluids, particularly if kept cold or frozen. Virus survival times up to several years have been observed in frozen pork meat. CSFV may also survive months in chilled or cured cuts.
Immediate Action in Japan
SHIC reports that a task force was implemented, and the remaining 610 pigs on the farm were culled to contain the outbreak.
By Monday morning (local time), depopulation of the farm was completed, the news report from SHIC said. It added that no clear origin of infection was identified. The farm obtained commercial feed, and it was reported that there were no known foreign laborers or visitors from countries endemic with CSF working in the farm. Cause of the virus introduction is “unknown and under investigation.”
“Exports of pork have been suspended until the Veterinary Services are capable of understanding the extent of the outbreak and if the measures were sufficient to contain it, while investigations about possible routes of introduction are implemented as well,” SHIC said. “The Gifu Prefecture is not the major area of swine production, and it is located 500 miles (800 kilometers) from the south region, the highest pig-dense area.”
Figure 1: Map of Japan, and Prefectures. In red, location of the Gifu Prefecture, in Central Japan. The highest pig-dense area of Japan is located in the south region of the country (adapted from Sasaki et al.,2017) approximately 500 miles (800 km) from Gifu Prefecture by road.
“CSF is a notifiable disease and affects the international trade of pork, however, clinically it is usually considered less severe than ASF,” SHIC said. “Currently, it is considered endemic in many countries, including China, therefore it is a disease with potential direct and indirect effects to the U.S. industry. Depending on the strain, extensions of outbreak, route of introduction and effectiveness of biosecurity measures to contain and prevent re-introductions, it could offer different levels of risk.”
Unlike ASF, commercial vaccines are available for the control of CSF.
U.S. Industry Taking Measures
Last week, the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) hosted a meeting with the American Association of Swine Veterinarians, National Pork Board, the Swine Health Information Center and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, including U.S. Chief Veterinary Officer Jack Shere, to discuss the threat of and protect America’s pork producers from foreign animal diseases (FADs), NPPC said in its weekly Capital Update. It also is encouraging U.S. producers to take extra precautions to protect their herds with increased biosecurity measures.
“To support the effort to prevent FADs, NPPC is asking for mandatory funding as part of the 2018 Farm Bill of $150 million for a vaccine bank to deal with an outbreak of Foot-and-Mouth Disease, $30 million for the National Animal Health Laboratory Network, which does animal disease diagnostics, and $70 million in block grants for state animal-health agencies for efforts to prevent diseases,” NPPC said.
CSF Background in Japan
According to SHIC, the last CSF outbreak in Japan was in 1992 in Kumamoto Prefecture. In 2007, the use of vaccination was banned, and disease eradication was declared in the country.
"The Japanese swine industry is still recovering from the 2013-2016 PED epidemic,” SHIC said. “On July 9th-2018, APHIS published the official notice of the OIE recognition of Japan as free CSF. Currently, Japan exports pork, and it is in the top-10 pork producing countries in the world. FAS/Tokyo estimates Japanese swine slaughter held stable at 16.336 million head in 2017.”
At this point, no other cases of CSF are suspected in Japan, but the status won’t be known until additional testing is completed.
Figure 2: Report of classical Swine Fever in Japan. In red, Gifu Prefecture in Japan, located in the central area of the country. Score 2.
Japan’s “Significance” Score
The “SDGS - Significance score” is a scoring system to assess the likelihood a disease event will impact the global swine industry, SHIC reported. Scores range from 1-3 (low-high) based on the novelty of the disease, effect on the swine industry, and impact on trade. Presently, Japan has a score of 2.
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-12/05/c_137653361.htm
https://japantoday.com/category/national/3rd-case-of-hog-cholera-infection-found-in-central-japan
Workers in protective gear gather near a public livestock research institute in Minokamo, Gifu Prefecture on Wednesday, following the detection of a hog cholera infection at the facility earlier in the day. Photo: KYODO
National
3rd case of hog cholera infection found in central Japan
Dec. 5 06:00 pm JST
A local government in central Japan said Wednesday a hog cholera infection has been found at a public research institute -- the third such case since the first outbreak in decades in Japan was reported earlier this year.
The latest case in the city of Minokamo, Gifu Prefecture, follows the first swine fever infection since 1992 reported at a pig farm in September and another at a public livestock center park in November, both in the city of Gifu.
The prefectural government began culling hogs at the research institute, which breeds about 500 pigs for the development of brand-name pork products, after two animals tested positive for the virus that has a high fatality rate. Hog cholera does not affect humans even if an infected animal is consumed.
The outbreak at public facilities sparked criticism of the local authority, which is at the forefront of measures to protect livestock.
At a meeting held Wednesday to respond to the outbreak, farm minister Takamori Yoshikawa said, "It is extremely serious that the infection was detected at the prefectural institute. It will have a huge impact." The minister said he may visit Gifu to deal with the outbreak.
Gifu Gov Hajime Furuta apologized at the meeting, saying, "We are really sorry that the outbreak occurred at the prefectural facility, which is supposed to have well-prepared preventive measures."
Deputy Gov. Takanori Kawai told reporters, "We made an effort with our preventive measures at our core facility for the livestock industry, but the positive test result indicates there was a failure in the process."
According to the prefecture, facility staff found four pigs had lost their appetite on Monday. In a test conducted by the central government, infections were confirmed in two of the pigs on Wednesday.
There have been 63 detected cases of infected wild boars in four municipalities neighboring Minokamo.
The virus detected in the two pigs at the research institute matched the type found in the first two cases and the wild boars.
In the outbreak on Sept 9, the Gifu prefectural and city governments confirmed several pigs had grown weak, but they were initially wrongly diagnosed as suffering from heat exhaustion. The livestock center park, where a swine flu outbreak occurred on Nov 16, was found to have violated hygiene management rules.
The third outbreak has stirred criticism from farmers and some experts.
"The administration has been treating these outbreaks too lightly. It's incredible that this has happened again," said a Gifu hog farmer.
He noted that even private animal husbandry farms follow hygiene rules as a matter of course, referring to the second outbreak at the park, which was found not to have strictly observed rules such as wearing specifically designated clothing at each pig pen.
"I can't believe that the infections occurred in a prefectural facility," said a 70-year-old neighbor of the institute who attended a local briefing session. "(The facility) was not very conscientious" about preventing the epidemic, he said.
"It is possible that even within the same prefectural organization, awareness differed between the department that gave guidance to farmers on animal control and the department that encouraged production," said Masuo Sueyoshi, head of the University of Miyazaki's Division of Prevention and Control for Animal Diseases.
Before the virus was detected in September, hog cholera was last seen in the country in Kumamoto Prefecture in 1992, when five pigs were infected. Japan declared the virus eradicated in 2007.
© KYODO
