The influence of economic indicators, poultry density and the performance of Veterinary Services on the control of high-pathogenicity avian influenza in poultry

Summary High-pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI) and low-pathogenicity notifiable avian influenza (LPNAI) in poultry are notifiable diseases that must be reported to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). There are variations between countries' responses to avian influenza (AI) outbreak situations based on their economic status, diagnostic capacity and other factors. The objective of this study was to ascertain the significant association between HPAI control data and a country's poultry density, the performance of its Veterinary Services, and its economic indicators (gross domestic product, agricultural gross domestic product, gross national income, human development index and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD] status). Results indicate that as poultry density increases for least developed countries there is an increase in the number and duration of HPAI outbreaks and in the time it takes to eradicate the disease. There was no significant correlation between HPAI control and any of the economic indicators except membership of the OECD. Member Countries, i.e. those with high-income economies, transparency and good governance, had shorter and significantly fewer HPAI outbreaks, quicker eradication times, lower mortality rates and higher culling rates than non-OECD countries. Furthermore, countries that had effective and efficient Veterinary Services (as measured by the ratings they achieved when they were assessed using the OIE Tool for the Evaluation of Performance of Veterinary Services) had better HPAI control measures

Review of influenza a virus in Swine worldwide: a call for increased surveillance and research

Pigs and humans have shared influenza A viruses (IAV) since at least 1918, and many interspecies transmission events have been documented since that time. However, despite this interplay, relatively little is known regarding IAV circulating in swine around the world compared with the avian and human knowledge base. This gap in knowledge impedes our understanding of how viruses adapted to swine or man impacts the ecology and evolution of IAV as a whole and the true impact of swine IAV on human health. The pandemic H1N1 that emerged in 2009 underscored the need for greater surveillance and sharing of data on IAV in swine. In this paper, we review the current state of IAV in swine around the world, highlight the collaboration between international organizations and a network of laboratories engaged in human and animal IAV surveillance and research, and emphasize the need to increase information in high-priority regions. The need for global integration and rapid sharing of data and resources to fight IAV in swine and other animal species is apparent, but this effort requires grassroots support from governments, practicing veterinarians and the swine industry and, ultimately, requires significant increases in funding and infrastructure.link_to_OA_fulltex