A joint approach to the threat of African Swine Fever has emerged from a meeting of the chief veterinarians for Canada, Mexico and the United States.
They are forming a joint working group and plan to meet Oct. 22 and 23 in Mexico to work on plans.
Canada’s chief veterinary officer, Dr. Jaspinder Komal, said “as part of our coordinated effort to keep North America free of ASF, we discussed the following key areas:
- comprehensive disease surveillance
- surge capacity aimed at helping to ensure our labs and people are ready to respond (for example, laboratories of Canada, Mexico and United states would work together to harmonize diagnostic tests for exotic animal diseases)
- contingency plans
- mitigation of risks associated with wild pigs, through activities such as control programs, surveillance, hunter education and farm biosecurity
- border security including inspection and control measures
- business continuity with risk-based movements of animal and animal products
- coordinated risk communications.”
