Annexes to COM(2002)51 - Specific provisions for the control of African swine fever and amending Directive 92/119/EEC as regards Teschen disease and African swine fever

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dossier COM(2002)51 - Specific provisions for the control of African swine fever and amending Directive 92/119/EEC as regards Teschen disease and ...
document COM(2002)51 EN
date June 27, 2002
ANNEX I


Notification of disease and further epidemiological information to be provided by the Member State where African swine fever has been confirmed

1. Within 24 hours of the confirmation of any primary outbreak, primary case in feral pigs or case in a slaughterhouse or means of transport, the Member State concerned must notify by means of the Animal Disease Notification System established in accordance with Article 5 of Directive 82/894/EEC:

(a) the date of dispatch;

(b) the time of dispatch;

(c) the name of Member State;

(d) the name of disease;

(e) the number of the outbreak or case;

(f) the date on which African swine fever was suspected;

(g) the date of confirmation;

(h) the methods used for confirmation;

(i) whether the disease has been confirmed in feral pigs or in pigs in a holding, slaughterhouse or means of transport;

(j) the geographical location where the outbreak or the case of African swine fever has been confirmed;

(k) the disease control measures applied.

2. In the case of primary outbreaks or cases in slaughterhouses or means of transport, the Member State concerned must forward the following information in addition to the data referred to in point 1:

(a) the number of susceptible pigs in the outbreak, slaughterhouse or means of transport;

(b) the number of dead pigs of each category in the holding, slaughterhouse or means of transport;

(c) for each category, the morbidity of the disease and the number of pigs in which African swine fever has been confirmed;

(d) the number of pigs killed in the outbreak, or in the slaughterhouse or means of transport;

(e) the number of carcases processed;

(f) in the case of an outbreak, its distance from the nearest pig holding;

(g) if African swine fever was confirmed in a slaughterhouse or means of transport, the location of the holding or holdings of origin of the infected pigs or carcases.

3. In the case of secondary outbreaks, the information referred to in points 1 and 2 must be forwarded within the time limits laid down in Article 4 of Directive 82/894/EEC.

4. The Member State concerned shall ensure that the information to be provided in accordance with points 1, 2 and 3, in relation to any outbreak or case of African swine fever in a holding, slaughterhouse or means of transport is followed as soon as possible by a written report to the Commission and the other Member States including at least:

(a) the date on which the pigs in the holding, slaughterhouse or means of transport were killed and their carcases processed;

(b) the results of the tests carried out on samples taken when pigs were killed;

(c) where the derogation provided for in Article 6(1) has been applied, the number of pigs killed and processed, and the number of pigs which are to be slaughtered at a later date together with the time limit laid down for their slaughter;

(d) any information relating to the possible origin of the disease or, if ascertained, its actual origin;

(e) information on the control system established to ensure that the measures laid down in Articles 10 and 11 for the control of animal movements are effectively implemented;

(f) in the case of a primary outbreak or of a case of African swine fever in a slaughterhouse or means of transport, the genetic type of virus responsible for the outbreak or for the case;

(g) where pigs have been killed in contact holdings or in holdings containing pigs suspected of being infected with African swine fever virus, information on:

- the date of killing and the number of pigs of each category killed in each holding,

- the epidemiological link between the outbreak or case of African swine fever and each contact holding or the other reasons that have induced the suspicion that African swine fever is present in each suspected holding,

- the results of the laboratory tests carried out on the samples taken from the pigs in the holdings and when such pigs were killed,

where pigs in contact holdings have not been killed, information must be provided concerning the reasons for this decision.


ANNEX II


Principles and procedures for cleansing, disinfection and treatment with insecticides

1. General principles and procedures:

(a) the cleansing and disinfection operations and, where necessary, the measures to destroy rodents and insects using officially authorised products must be carried out under official supervision and in accordance with the instructions given by the official veterinarian;

(b) the disinfectants to be used and their concentrations must be officially approved by the competent authority to ensure destruction of African swine fever virus;

(c) the efficacy of disinfectants must be regularly checked before use, as the efficacity of certain disinfectants is diminished by prolonged storage;

(d) the choice of disinfectants, insecticides and of procedures for disinfection and disinsectisation must be made taking into account the nature of the premises, vehicles and objects which are to be treated;

(e) the conditions under which degreasing agents, disinfectants and insecticides are used must ensure that their efficacy is not impaired. In particular technical parameters indicated by the manufacturer, such as pressure, minimum temperature and required contact time must be observed;

(f) irrespective of the disinfectant used, the following general rules should be applied:

- thorough soaking of bedding and litter as well as faecal matter with the disinfectant,

- washing and cleansing by careful brushing and scrubbing of the ground, floor, ramps and walls, if possible after the removal or dismantling of equipment or installations so as not to impair the effective cleansing and disinfection procedures,

- then, further application of disinfectant for a minimum contact time as stipulated in the manufacturer's recommendations,

- the water used for cleaning operations must be disposed of in such a way as to avoid any risk of spreading the virus, in accordance with the instructions of the official veterinarian;

(g) where washing is carried out with liquids applied under pressure, re-contamination of the previously cleansed parts must be avoided;

(h) washing, disinfecting or destroying of equipment, installations, articles or compartments likely to be contaminated must be included;

(i) following the disinfection procedures, re-contamination must be avoided;

(j) cleansing, disinfection and disinsectisation required in the framework of this Directive must be documented in the holding or vehicle register and where official approval is required, be certified by the supervising official veterinarian.

2. Special provisions on the cleansing and disinfection of infected holdings:

(a) preliminary cleansing and disinfection:

- during the killing of the animals, all necessary measures must be taken to avoid or minimise the spread of African swine fever virus. Those measures include, inter alia, the installation of temporary disinfection equipment, supply of protective clothing, showers, decontamination of used equipment, instruments and facilities and the interruption of power supply to the ventilation,

- carcases of killed animals must be sprayed with disinfectant,

- if the carcases have to be removed from the holding for processing, covered and leak proof containers must be used,

- as soon as the carcases of the pigs have been removed for processing, those parts of the holding in which the animals were housed and any parts of other buildings, yards etc., contaminated during killing, or post-mortem examination must be sprayed with disinfectants approved in accordance with Article 12,

- any tissue or blood spilled during slaughter or post-mortem or gross contamination of buildings, yards, utensils etc. must be carefully collected and processed with the carcases,

- the disinfectant must remain on the surface for at least 24 hours;

(b) final cleansing and disinfection:

- manure and used bedding must be removed and treated as provided in point 3(a),

- grease and dirt must be removed from all surfaces by the application of a degreasing agent and the surfaces washed with water,

- after washing with cold water, further spraying with disinfectant must be applied,

- after seven days the premises must be treated with a degreasing agent, rinsed with water, sprayed with disinfectant and rinsed again with water.

3. Disinfection of contaminated bedding, manure and slurry:

(a) manure and used bedding must be stacked to heat, sprayed with disinfectant and left for at least 42 days or destroyed by burning or burying;

(b) slurry must be stored for at least 60 days after the last addition of infective material, unless the competent authorities authorise a reduced storage period for slurry which has been effectively treated in accordance with the instructions given by the official veterinarian so as to ensure the destruction of the virus.

4. However, by way of derogation from points 1 and 2, in the case of open-air holdings the competent authority may establish specific procedures for cleansing and disinfection, taking into account the type of holding and the climatic conditions.


ANNEX III


Guidelines for the retrieval of vectors

1. The search for vectors must be carried out in the pigs' living and resting quarters and in the surrounding area.

Vectors are generally to be found in old buildings, in the shade where conditions in terms of temperature and humidity are favourable.

The best results will be achieved if the search takes place in late spring, during the summer and early autumn, periods during which vectors are most active.

2. Two methods should be used:

(a) search for vectors in soil, sand or dust extracted from the spaces between stones (in the case of stone-built areas) or from the interstices or crevices in the walls under the tiles or from the ground of the premises by means of a brush or any other appropriate tool. Earth and sand should be sifted as necessary. A magnifying glass may be useful when searching for young larvae;

(b) search for vectors by means of CO2 traps. The traps must be placed for several hours in the pig stalls preferably during the night and in any event in shady areas out of the daylight. The traps should be constructed in such a way that the vectors are brought close enough to the CO2 source for it to be impossible for them to return to their habitat.


ANNEX IV


National African swine fever laboratories and their responsibilities

1. The national African swine fever laboratories are as follows:

Belgium

Centre d'étude et de recherche vétérinaires et agrochimiques, 1180 Bruxelles

Denmark

Danmarks Veterinære Institut - Afdeling for Virologi, Lindholm, 4771 Kalvehave

Germany

Bundesforschungsanstalt für Viruskrankheiten der Tiere, Tübingen, 17498 Riems

Greece

Veterinary Institute of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, 15310 Ag. Paraskevi

Spain

Centro de Investigación en Sanidad Animal, 28130 Valdeolmos (Madrid)

France

AFSSA-Ploufragan, Zoopole des Côtes d'Armor, 22440 Ploufragan

Ireland

Veterinary Research Laboratory, Abbotstown, Castleknock, Dublin 15

Italy

Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Umbria e delle Marche, 06100 Perugia

Luxembourg

Laboratoire de médecine vétérinaire de l'État, 1020 Luxembourg

The Netherlands

Central Institute for animal disease control (CIDC-Lelystad), P.O. Box 2004, 8203 AA Lelystad

Austria

Bundessanstalt für veterinärmedizinische Untersuchungen in Mödling, Robert Koch-Gasse 17, 2340 Mödling

Portugal

Laboratório Nacional de Investigação Veterinária, 1500 Lisboa

Finland

Eläinlääkintä- ja elintarviketutkimuslaitos, 00231 Helsinki

Forskningsanstalten för veterinärmedicin och livsmedel, 00231 Helsingfors

Sweden

Statens Veterinärmedicinska Anstalt, 75189 Uppsala

United Kingdom

Institute for Animal Health, Pirbright, Woking, Surrey GU24 ONF

2. National African swine fever laboratories are responsible for ensuring that in each Member State the laboratory testing to detect the presence of African swine fever and the identification of the genetic type of virus isolates are carried out in accordance with the diagnostic manual. To this end, they may make special agreements with the Community Reference Laboratory or with other national laboratories.

3. The national African swine fever laboratory in each Member State is responsible for coordinating the standards and diagnostic methods in each African swine fever diagnostic laboratory within that State. To this end:

(a) they may provide diagnostic reagents to individual laboratories;

(b) they shall control the quality of all diagnostic reagents used in that Member State;

(c) they shall arrange comparative tests periodically;

(d) they shall hold isolates of African swine fever virus from cases and outbreaks confirmed in that Member State.


ANNEX V


Community Reference Laboratory for African swine fever

1. The Community Reference Laboratory for African swine fever is: Centro de Investigación en Sanidad Animal, 28130 Valdeolmos, Madrid, Spain.

2. The functions and duties of the Community Reference Laboratory for African swine fever are:

(a) to coordinate, in consultation with the Commission, the methods employed in the Member States for diagnosing African swine fever, specifically by:

- storing and supplying cell cultures for use in diagnosis,

- typing, storing and supplying strains of African swine fever virus for serological tests and the preparation of anti-sera,

- supplying standardised sera, conjugate sera and other reference reagents to the national laboratories in order to standardise the tests and reagents employed in the Member States,

- building up and holding an African swine fever virus collection,

- organising periodic comparative tests of diagnostic procedures at Community level,

- collecting and collating data and information on the methods of diagnosis used and the results of tests carried out,

- characterising isolates of the virus by the most up-to-date methods available to allow greater understanding of the epizootiology of African swine fever,

- keeping abreast of developments in African swine fever surveillance, epizootiology and prevention throughout the world,

- retaining expertise on the virus causing African swine fever and other pertinent viruses to enable rapid differential diagnosis;

(b) to make the necessary arrangements for training or re-training experts in laboratory diagnosis with a view to harmonising diagnostic techniques;

(c) to have trained personnel available for emergency situations occurring within the Community;

(d) to perform research activities and whenever possible coordinate research activities directed towards an improved control of African swine fever;

(e) to draw up technical protocols relating to procedures to verify the efficacy of disinfectants against the African swine virus.

3. The Community Reference Laboratories for classical swine fever and African swine fever shall organise their activities in such a way so as to ensure proper coordination of the comparative tests organised at Community level for the diagnosis of these two diseases.


ANNEX VI


Criteria and requirements relating to contingency plans

Member States are to ensure that contingency plans meet the following criteria and requirements at least:

(a) the adoption of measures to ensure that the legal powers necessary for the implementation of contingency plans exist and make it possible to carry out a rapid and effective eradication campaign;

(b) the adoption of measures that will ensure access to emergency funds, budgetary means and financial resources in order to cover all aspects of the fight against an epidemic outbreak of African swine fever;

(c) a chain of command must be set up to ensure that in the event of the outbreak of an epidemic the decision-taking procedure for an epizootic is rapid and effective. If necessary, the chain of command must be placed under the authority of a central decision-taking unit responsible for directing all the strategies for the fight against the disease. The director of the veterinary services must be a member of that unit and act as a link between the central decision-taking unit and the national disease control centre provided for in Article 22;

(d) the adoption of measures to ensure that appropriate resources are available for a rapid and effective campaign, including laboratory staff, equipment and infrastructure;

(e) an instruction manual must be provided. It must give a full and detailed practical description of all the procedures, instructions and measures to be employed in the event of an outbreak of African swine fever;

(f) the staff must regularly take part in:

(i) training schemes covering the clinical signs of African swine fever, epidemiological surveys and the control of the disease;

(ii) alarm drills organised at least twice a year;

(iii) training in communications techniques in order to organise information campaigns concerning the current outbreak of the epidemic disease, aimed at authorities, farmers and veterinarians.