Bridgetown, Barbados — The Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Nutritional Security collected the first clinical samples to be tested for African swine fever (ASF) virus under a new cooperative initiative with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Interamerican Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA), and the Caribbean Agricultural Health and Food Safety Agency (CAHFSA). This initiative supports the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) members who agreed to a Statement of Intent for Preventing and Controlling African Swine Fever Virus in October 2023.
“We are proud to partner with our USDA and IICA colleagues to be among the first of the Caribbean countries to test for ASF under these regional surveillance efforts and make good on the commitment we made in October,” said Dr. Mark Trotman the CVO of Barbados.
In August, staff from the Barbados Veterinary services – advised by Veterinarians and Epidemiologists from USDA – designed a comprehensive surveillance plan and collected numerous samples from farms throughout Barbados. These samples were sent to the U.S. Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (FADDL) in Plum Island, New York for laboratory analysis.
The start of ASF testing represents the culmination of a summer of ASF Surveillance trainings hosted by IICA and USDA in Kansas and Puerto Rico to prepare representatives from each CARICOM country to commence their own surveillance programs.
ASF was detected in the Dominican Republic and Haiti in July 2021, and as a result the United States, Barbados, and other Caribbean countries are engaged in increasing capacity to prevent new outbreaks in the region.
“An effective surveillance program is crucial if we’re going to get the early warning we need to prevent an introduction or contain a new outbreak in the Caribbean and the broader Western Hemisphere,” Dr. Eric Coleman, USDA Program Policy Advisor at the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, International Services.
Coordination is critical amongst public and private sectors across all countries of the Caribbean to prevent the spread of ASF. The initiative provides training and sample collection supplies to Barbados and Caribbean partners to collect high quality samples from sick or high-risk pigs for laboratory analysis at FADDL. USDA and IICA are working with Barbados and other Caribbean partners, such as CAHFSA, to identify the budgetary and technical resources necessary for each country to sustain ASF surveillance capabilities at the conclusion of the training period.
For more information on African Swine Fever visit APHIS visit: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal-disease/swine/protect-pigs
For further inquiries, please contact [email protected]
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