MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OF IMPORTANT

TRANSBOUNDARY  ANIMAL DISEASES IN MALAYSIA

Mohd Rosly Shaari

Animal Science Research CentreMalaysian Agricultural Research and

Development Institute (MARDI)

Population = 30.9 million (Census 2015) Total land area = 329,847 km2 The two parts of Malaysia, separated by the South China Sea Peninsular Malaysia extends 740 km (north to south),

maximum width is 322 km (east to west) East Malaysia, on the Borneo Island, coastline of 2,607 km

INTRODUCTION

The FAO defined TADs are diseases that are of economic and food security importance

Easily spread to other countries and reach epidemic proportions rapidly

Requires cooperation between several neighbouring countries to control, manage and eradicate

INTRODUCTION

Listed 125 of animal diseases as a notifiable diseases which need to be monitored and reported (50 never recorded, 31 presence and 44 absence)

Important TADs in Malaysia – ruminant, poultry, zonoses and re-emergence

INTRODUCTION

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) - contagious diseases of cloven-hoofed animals.

Quickly spread by global animal movements Sabah and Sarawak are FMD free states without vaccination

while Peninsular Malaysia is endemic states.

FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE

The cattle industry in Malaysia is small while the demand for beef is increasing over the years

In need to fulfill the demand – import a large number of live cattle from various countries

15% of the domestic beef consumption supplied from live cattle purchased from Australia, New Zealand - expansive

FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE

Malaysia has to import live animals from neighbouring countries such as Thailand and Myanmar

Importation - increase the risk of introducing new infection among the local animal populations.

New import policy in 2007 - Thailand became the major contributor

The highest FMD occurrence was recorded in 2008 with 137 outbreaks (DVS, 2011).

FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE

FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE

Parameters

Year2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Total Outbreaks 28 77 24 8 9

Animal susceptible 1396 3097 1173 222 445

Cases 205 378 156 43 110Vaccination in response to outbreak - - - - 1412Source: DVS (2015), OIE (2015)

FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE The outbreaks were consistently low except the year 2012 The increase occurrence - probably due to increasing in

smuggling activities across Malaysia-Thailand border Vaccination activities in response to the outbreak – a). reduce

the magnitude of the outbreak b). increase the antibody response

Poultry production is the most important livestock industry in Malaysia

The total consumption climbing by 21.3 % , per capita consumption of poultry meat also rise from 41.11 kg to 46.49 kg (2009 – 2013)

Malaysia has attained self-sufficiency levels in poultry meat Newcastle disease (ND), Avian Infectious Bronchitis (IB) and

Infectious Bursal Disease (Gumboro) - a major threat

NEWCASTLE DISEASE

Newcastle Disease (ND) is endemic in Malaysia - significant economic losses to the poultry industry

In 2013, Malaysia experienced several outbreaks causing huge impact - 32,094 chicken deaths from 76,592 cases reported

The outbreak not only in unvaccinated backyard poultry but also in vaccinated commercial poultry

The virus responsible for the outbreak was genotype VII strain

NEWCASTLE DISEASE

NEWCASTLE DISEASE

Parameters

Year2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Total Outbreaks 11 33 8 2 3

Cases 19,540 6,256 76,592 26 2,060

Death 14,361 4,503 32,094 26 1,060Source: DVS (2015), OIE (2015)

NEWCASTLE DISEASE

2011 2012 2013 2014 20150

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Many risk factors involved such as multi-age production practices, the proximity of farms, biosecurity, and sanitation practices appear to have a role in the outcome of the disease, regarding severity and mortality

NEWCASTLE DISEASE

HIGHLY PATHOGENIC AVIAN INFLUENZA In Malaysia, HPAI defined as any detection of HPAI H5N1

virus with or without clinical manifestation The first outbreak of HPAI among poultry occurred on 17

August 2004. Eight (8) more outbreaks occurred with the last outbreak

being on 22 September 2004. An active surveillance conducted surrounding the infected

area, detected HPAI virus from apparently healthy birds in 3 locations.

HIGHLY PATHOGENIC AVIAN INFLUENZA The virus, discovered in fighting cocks smuggled from a

neighbouring country, was transmitted mainly among the local village chickens.

Molecular analysis showed that the H5N1 strain was similar to the H5N1 strains previously isolated from Thailand and Vietnam

All outbreaks and HPAI virus detection were confined only in Kelantan, the state situated in the North East of the Peninsular Malaysia and bordering Thailand.

HIGHLY PATHOGENIC AVIAN INFLUENZA The outbreaks were probably due to movement of affected

chickens from an affected neighbouring country. There was no outbreak in 2005 In February 2006 five outbreaks of HPAI H5N1 occurred in in

Kuala Lumpur and the states of Perak and Pulau Pinang.

HIGHLY PATHOGENIC AVIAN INFLUENZA Mixed strains of Thailand/Vietnam (3), Fujian (1) and

Hunan (1) strains, which was different from that of the 2004 outbreaks.

The strains of Hunan and Fijian were highly similar to the H5N1 strains from Indonesia and China.

The outbreaks were possibly by the poultry trade rather than through migratory birds because it occurred outside the migration months (October – January) where this period the birds migrate from north to south.

HIGHLY PATHOGENIC AVIAN INFLUENZA The last outbreak occurred in June 2007 in the state of

Selangor and since then Malaysia was declared free of HPAI. The HPAI resolved date for Malaysia was 7 September 2007. A total of 18 outbreaks has occurred since the first confirmed

case on 17 August 2004, 12 in 2004, 5 in 2006 and 1 in 2007 All outbreaks were successfully eradicated by stamping out

with full compensation.

RABIES OIE declared Malaysia as rabies free country in 2012 since last

dog cases in 1999 Malaysia has lost its rabies-free status in July 2015 where the

first outbreak case was reported in Perlis after 13 years. The outbreak started in Perlis on the 27th July 2015 with a

total number of 6 cases involving 1 owned dog and 5 stray dogs.

Three (3) more cases occurred in Pulau Pinang and 1 case in Kedah during the period of 9th to 17th September 2015 involving stray dogs

RABIES All outbreaks and rabies virus detection were confined only in

Perlis, Kedah and Pulau Pinang, the states situated in the Immune Belt Zone

The rabies buffer zone the areas within a radius of 50 km to 80 km of the Malaysia-Thailand border

Comprehensive active surveillance for rabies and dog control programs including ongoing vaccination of all owned pets and removal of stray dogs

RABIES This buffer zone is important because Thailand is endemic for

rabies. High risk factor due to the free movement of people and

illegal transportation of dogs across the border The outbreak in Perlis and Kedah were hypothesized to have

originated from neighbouring country by land movement The outbreak in Pulau Pinang was hypothesized to have

originated by sea through fishermen boats and sea vessels

Rabies

StateParameters

Cases Animal Susceptible

Animal Destroyed

Vaccination

Perlis 6 1838 302 1838

Pulau Pinang 3 3946 2224 1722

Kedah 1 4567 2047 4567

Source: DVS (2015), OIE (2015)

RABIES The outbreak resolved by November 2015 after a thorough

control measures were applied. Movement control, screening, vaccination, quarantine, and

active surveillance outside and within containment zone The best approach in handling rabies outbreak may be culling

of stray dogs and followed by mass vaccination of all dogs

RABIES On 3rd November 2015 the outbreak which started on 27th

July 2015 officially resolved Malaysia would have to wait another two years to get a rabies

free status from the OIE

MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL The management of TADs can be divided into two situations 1).

During and after the outbreak and 2). During freedom of diseases. During the outbreak/s the control measures taken always follow

(depending on the disease), those recommended by OIE (9 control measures)

In Malaysia, most of the TADs are under control, through effective vaccination, eradication and control programmes and most importantly public or farmers education.

SURVEILLANCE Generally, there are four main purposes of surveillance (a).

Demonstrating freedom from disease (b). Early detection of disease (c). Measuring the level of disease (d). Finding cases of disease

In Malaysia, National Animal Diseases Surveillance Program is an active surveillance program focuses on six animal diseases including Avian Influenza, Newcastle disease and Rabies

SURVEILLANCE Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), Nipah virus and

Swine fever are also included in the program. FMD falls under B category, which the surveillance only

conducted when necessary.

VACCINATION Vaccination should meet the number of objectives, among

which are; preventing morbidity and mortality, avoiding immunosuppression, preventing associated effects of infections and for breeders, development of high levels of protective maternal antibodies in young offsprings.

Vaccination programmes and procedures may differ from one farm to another, depending on the type of vaccines used, the source of vaccines, disease situation and local condition

VACCINATION Routine vaccination is carried out in commercial farms but

may be lacking in small farms and also the small holder. In Malaysia vaccination program for FMD in cattle, ND in

poultry and rabies in dogs are regularly conducted, example twice a year for FMD.

ND in poultry vaccination programmes and procedures may vary, in the form of the strains of the virus used, the frequency of vaccination and the number of vaccines employed on a particular farm.

Rabies vaccination program is only compulsory for dogs in immune belt zone in Perlis, Kedah and Pulau Pinang.

STAMPING OUT POLICY Stamping-out is the most effective strategy for disease

eradication The main objective of stamping-out is completely to eliminate

the disease agent from the population. Policies on culling are different among Asian countries. A compensation scheme with acceptable rates facilitates and

improves the effectiveness of the stamping out operation.

STAMPING OUT POLICY The disease eradication campaign is shorter and achieved for

a lower overall cost, A shorter waiting period before the country can be recognized

as free of the disease and resume export of livestock and animal products.

Well organized veterinary services with full support by government are crucial to the success of the disease-eradication campaign

TRACEABILITY Helps to trace the source of infection and identify other

animals exposed to the same disease. It is also important to be able to trace forward animals

exposed to the infected herd or flock may have been transported to another location

The smuggling activities and illegal movement of infected animal within the country had consistently sustained the FMD of the local cattle production.

TRACEABILITY The use of unique identification for each livestock in the

adoption of RFID tagging provided a possible solution Cost of RFID set for each cattle is high and only can afford by

government owned farm or commercial farm. Malaysia Agricultural Research and Development Institute

(MARDI) developed a Sub-dermal RFID System for Ruminant. The RFID chip technology was developed using High-

Frequency waves (HF, 13.56 MHz) for faster, lower cost and have anti-collision or be able to read more than one chip at a time.

IMPORT REGULATION There are rules and regulations for importing animal and

animal products into Malaysia Exporting country has to apply an Import Permit Inspection of abbattoir and processing plant, have to be

audited and approved by DVS and JAKIM (for HALAL products) All animal and animal products that are imported into the

country are subjected to a period of quarantine

ANIMAL ACT “The Laws of Malaysia Act A1452 Animals Amendment Act

2013” Cover special issues relating to dog rabies including (a) licensing (section 38) (b) handling of rabies-infected areas (section 39) (c) culling or detention of any animal suspected to be infected with rabies (section 40) (d) detention of any dogs that have bitten a person (section 41) (e) administering of anti-rabies vaccines in dogs (section 42) (Parliament-Malaysia, 2013).

This usually becomes very important in the face of an outbreak like the recent.

PUBLIC AWARENESS The awareness campaign conducted during the outbreak also

help a lot in creating public awareness especially dogs owner to vaccinate their dogs and importance of eradication process

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION The prevention, control and eradication is only possible

through coordinated efforts among neighboring countries. Prevention begins with early detection of changes in diseases

viruses and rapid action The control of poultry diseases in Malaysia is achieved

through routine monitoring programmes, government import regulations, biosecurity measures, prophylactic medication and vaccinations.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION The control of livestock diseases must take into consideration

the type of animal industry, the type of farmers as well the epidemiology of the diseases in the individual country.

In Malaysia, we have come to recognise that no disease control measures can possibly succeed without public and farmers’ cooperation.