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WVA Information: OIE Conference on the Control of Infectious Animal Diseases by Vaccination
Posted by: JimEdwards on May 05, 2004 - 03:40 PM
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Buenos Aires, Argentina, 13-16 April 2004.
Report from President Dr Herbert Schneider who attended the conference at the invitation of the OIE.
The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) organised in collaboration with the International Association for Biologicals (IABs) and the Servicio Nacional de Sanidad Animal (SENASA) of Argentina, an international conference on the control of infectious animal diseases by vaccination which was held from 13 to 16 April 2004 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The meeting which was attended by over 300 scientists of international repute representing some 50 countries, was open by Dr Bernard Vallat, Director General of the OIE in the presence of Ministers and other dignitaries of the region.
During the past few years the world witnessed the global emergence and re- emergence of several infectious animal diseases and zoonoses that have had a major impact on both animal and human health. The mass killing of animals applied during the foot and mouth disease crisis in 2001 in Europe and during the recent avian influ-enza epidemic in South East Asia when more than 100 million birds either died or were destroyed has posed considerable ethical, technical, ecological and economic problems.
During his intervention at the conference, the Director General of the OIE, Dr. Bernard Vallat said that this situation was no longer acceptable either to the international scientific community or to the public at large the more so that in many areas of the world, human beings are still being deprived of valuable proteins in their diet. “It is urgent that scientists come forward with alternative methods of disease control that will not only avoid wastage of valuable animal proteins but that will also promote the international trade of animals and animal products by removing technically unjustified trade barriers caused by animal diseases”, he added.
During the conference, many scientific papers and poster presentations covering a wide range of infectious animal diseases including zoonoses were presented. Much emphasis was placed on the quality of vaccines to be used and the diagnostic tests to be applied in order to differentiate infected from vaccinated animals (DIVA tests). The OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code and the Manual of Diagnostic Tests and Vaccines for Terrestrial Animals have thus been updated to include the latest diagnostic tests capable of differentiating vaccinated from infected animals. With specific regard to the OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code, it is worth mentioning that these tests have already been applied to certain diseases such as FMD, and are being considered for other as regards disease control and recovery of disease free status following disease outbreaks.
New scientific and technological knowledge for the prevention of many of these infec-tious diseases could contribute to the development of safer and more efficacious vaccines and diagnostic tests. For ethical, ecological and economical reasons, it is no longer acceptable to control and eradicate disease outbreaks mainly by applying mass slaughter of animals. Vaccination is without doubt one of the most useful single measures which can be used to prevent ani-mal diseases, and, veterinary science has since its inception been strongly linked with the development of vaccinology.
Conclusions and Recommendations
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