The Status of AI Outbreak and Response and the Direction of Preventive Measures

Abstract

○ Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) and Low Pathogenic Avian Influenza (LPAI) have broken out in 37 countries all over the world since 2012 and have recently been detected in four countries as of January 2014. - Those who are infected with or died of AI that broke out since November 2003 have been reported in 15 countries generally in the Asian region.

○ HPAI has been detected five times in Korea, and experts presume that the influenza virus could enter the country by migratory birds.

○ According to the urgent AI Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), which was revised to prevent the spread of HPAI all over the nation and eradicate the virus at an early stage, the authorities issued a nationwide “temporary standstill” order twice to Jeollanam-do and Jeollabuk-do Provinces, Gwangju Metropolitan City (for 48 hours), Gyeonggi-do, Chungcheongnam-do and Chungcheongbuk-do Provinces, Daejeon Metropolitan City and Sejong City (for 12 hours), for the first time since the system was introduced.

○ Since 2004, AI broke out five times in Japan, and experts have identified wild birds as one of the causes of the infection in all of five cases and sought for countermeasures against the spread of AI through wild birds.

○ The Japanese government’s preventive measures against AI are more specific and detailed than the SOP of the Korean government. - In Japan, the authorities use the detailed feeding management checklist to probe the current status, and choose sampling methods and designate farms that should be under control, in a more scientific approach. - The Korean SOP suggests guidelines only for the occasion in which wild birds are officially identified as the cause of the AI infection. On the contrary, the Japanese measures provide thorough preventive guidelines and even anti-virus countermeasures against the AI infection from wild birds even for farms.

○ In order to improve the current preventive policy against AI infection, - firstly, complementary plans for the sustainable eco-friendly livestock policy are needed to resolve fundamental problems of animal diseases; - secondly, responding guidelines should be more specific, and interdepartmental cooperative relationships and information network should be established; - finally, a joint research network among Northeast Asian countries including Korea, China, Taiwan and Japan should be established to reinforce the quarantine system at the borders and seek for preventive measures against the transmission of the virus through wild birds.