September 30, 2006

Early recognition of a serious or exotic animal disease is one of the most important factors influencing the probability of controlling the ailment, and of reducing the resulting economic and social impacts on a community.

Government recognises this by defining some animal ailments as “notifiable diseases”. These are animal diseases that when suspected by owners, vets or laboratories must be reported to an inspector of livestock within a defined timeframe.

Notifiable diseases have been defined in the Livestock Disease Control Act of 1994. The obligations of livestock owners, vets, laboratories and others have also been outlined in the act.

Countries should consider all OIE (Office International Epizootic) List A diseases, at a minimum, as notifiable. Veterinary officers with reporting responsibilities and other animal health officers should be obliged to report through the supervising veterinary officer to the central directorate, without delay and on the day of occurrence, any case or suspected case of a notifiable disease.

According to the OIE manual, there are list A and list B notifiable diseases:

List A diseases are exotic. The law requires that any suspicion of a List A disease is reported immediately and that the owner of suspect animals isolates them immediately, pending further investigation of the symptoms.

List B diseases are endemic. The law requires that any suspicion of a List B disease is reported immediately. There is no legal requirement to isolate suspect animals pending a further investigation of the signs, but owners are strongly urged to take all reasonable steps to prevent any spread of those diseases that are contagious.

In addition to the List A and List B diseases, there are two further categories of notifiable diseases that must be reported.

1. Any suspect case of a new disease must be reported immediately.

2. Any disease that is causing deaths or production losses and which is not readily diagnosed is deemed to be an unknown disease. Any unknown disease must also be reported immediately and the suspect animals isolated pending further investigation of the symptoms.

Major factors responsible for the spread of notifiable diseases among animals are:

Lack of epidemiological approach: In our system of veterinary services, we are mostly concerned about treating the individual animals and we give almost no consideration to the spread of notifiable diseases to other animals.

Due to this negligence, notifiable diseases spread from one animal to another, from one farm to other farms and eventually the disease spreads across various villages. Rarely have there been an attempt to study diseases on the basis of solid epidemiological grounds.

Poor nutritional status: Lack of adequate nutrition is a major problem commonly faced in our country. Poorly fed and malnourished animals are highly prone to infections. Most animals are fed on low quality rations which do not meet the TDN (total digestible nutrients) and CP (crude protein) requirements.

A recent report regarding the feed resources of Punjab indicates deficiency in TDN (22.71 per cent) and CP (2.82 per cent). Nutritional stress predisposes animals to infections.

Deficiency in various minerals and vitamins also predisposes animals to different notifiable diseases. A clearly documented database of minerals and vitamin deficiencies in different areas (soils) of the country is yet to be created.

In this respect, diseases resulting from the deficiency of various vitamins and those resulting from deficient minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, iodine, zinc and selenium are most important. These deficiencies too lead to stress.

For instance, underfed calves are more prone to diseases and this greatly increases the incidence of “early calf mortality”. A poorly fed calve would give rise to a poor herd in future.

Non-availability of green fodder: There is scarcity of green forage in May/June and then again in Oct/Nov. During this period dry roughages are mostly fed which are low in TDN and do not meet the nutritional needs of livestock.

Inadequate prophylaxis: Vaccination is not carried out extensively and, even if it is scheduled, sometimes the inoculation procedure is not properly followed.

Farmers’ economic conditions: About 80 per cent of the farms have an area of less than 5 hectares, with only limited economic resources available. Millions of families rely on animals for their livelihood.

So, they are not in a position to spend much on modern machinery and disease control strategies. Furthermore, the overall economic conditions are also poor, with 25 to 30 per cent of the population living below the poverty line.

Lack of diagnostic facilities: We also lack proper diagnostic facilities for our livestock. There are a few diagnostic laboratories at the district level, which lack latest equipment and sometimes even run short of basic reagents needed for tests.

Lack of awareness: Most farmers are illiterate and can’t have access to any form of printed literature. The mass media on the other hand is not playing a significant role in educating the farmers about basic principles regarding health and hygiene of animals and about disease control.

Lack of sanitary regulations: No strict quarantine and zoo-sanitary regulations exist in our country.

— New animals are purchased and introduced into a herd without observing the quarantine period. There is no check on animal markets, which are a source of spread of infections.

— There is no restriction on animal movement from one place to another and in this way pathogens are transferred from one area to another. Furthermore, there is a free trade of animals among the provinces which can spread diseases from one province to another.

— Half-hearted veterinary inspections at slaughterhouses and breeding centres also play an important part in the spread of notifiable diseases.

— Disposal of dead animals is not properly carried out, attracting scavengers that, in turn, spread diseases to far-off areas.

— There is no ban on import of live animals and animal products, leading to the possibility of introduction of new pathogens.

Irrational import of vaccines: Substandard vaccines and medicines which do not and cannot find their way in developed countries are often exported to developing countries. Actually some new strains of certain viruses have been introduced into the country through imported vaccines.

Non-cooperation of neighbouring countries: Neither a collaborative effort to control notifiable diseases in the region is launched, nor is there cooperation among neighbouring countries for this purpose. The OIE recommends certain level of cooperation for controlling notifiable diseases, which is difficult to achieve with countries like India.

Natural environmental conditions: Natural environmental conditions sometimes favour the spread of certain notifiable diseases – for instance, during rains and floods.