HEAL ▶▶▶TH
How is Brazil getting on with eradicating CSF?
Brazil’s pig industry has a grand plan to eliminate Classical Swine Fever (CSF – also known as hog cholera) from the entire country. Currently, Brazil’s CSF-free zone in the south covers 95% of the production area and all pig meat exports. Increasing that area, however, is the aim. Where is Brazil in the process of eradicating CSF?
BY DANIEL AZEVEDO, CORRESPONDENT I
n terms of CSF, Brazil can be subdivided into two zones. As Figure 1 shows, the south of Brazil consists of 15 states as well as the Federal District, which cover the major pig producing states. CSF has not been found in any of those
states since 1998. Only 11 states in the north are officially not declared free from CSF – but that is about to change, as Brazil is on track to overcome CSF once and for all.
Figure 1 – CSF free zones in Brazil.
CSF resurfaced in 2018 Probably encouraging the zero-tolerance policy is a resur- facing of the virus in recent years. Even though after 2009 there had been a relative lull in CSF reporting for about ten years, three states in the Northeast region (Alagoas, Ceará and Piauí) started to report outbreaks again from 2018. All of these outbreaks were found in backyard farms and were quickly brought under control and notified to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) (see also Table 1). The continued presence of the virus, however, does present a huge risk to the producers located in the CSF-free zone in the south. The National Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock (CNA) has calculated that, should the virus enter the free zone, the economic impact could vary from US$ 348 million to US$ 1.2 billion, depending on the scenario. To avoid that type of consequence, the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA), the Brazilian Association of Pig Producers (ABCS), local associations and other players resumed a plan that was created in 2019 and can best be translated as the “Strategic Plan for Brazil Free of CSF”. Guilherme Takeda, head of swine health at MAPA, explains, “The plan aims to strengthen the official veterinary service and surveillance system for swine diseases, including a systematic vaccination programme against CSF in states of the non-disease-free zone.”
First steps of CSF-free implementation In 2021, the first step occurred between June and August in Alagoas state. In total, 112,594 pigs were vaccinated at 7,018 properties. The ministry and other actors involved are devel- oping an evaluation report of this stage to guide upcoming actions. The purpose of that pilot project was to carry out vaccina- tion against CSF and identify possible difficulties that may affect performance of the plan. The goal is to run out a com- prehensive CSF vaccination programme and replicate that methodology in the other states.
Outside the CSF free zone Inside the CSF free zone
10 ▶ PIG PROGRESS | Volume 38, No. 3, 2022
Outbreaks The 49 outbreaks in Ceará in 2018–19, as well as a recurrent outbreak in 2021 near the town of Marco, showed that a co- ordinated approach is necessary. Paulo Helder, president of the Association of Swine Producers of Ceará state (ASCE), says
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