PHOTO: EPA | ORLANDO BARRIA | ANP
INTERVIEW ▶▶▶
scale. Until now, the Dominican government has compensated all the producers who had to cull pigs. They are currently discussing a new payment formula to give them a new and better compen- sation which is closer to the market price. That is irrespective of farm size.”
In your opinion, do all outbreaks get reported – or are there cases when outbreaks do not get reported to the authorities? Dr Israel Brito: “It is possible that some very small producers may not have spent time reporting the disease, because they didn’t re- alise that the animals were infected until it was too late. And by the time they did realise, the pigs were dying. But generally speaking, the people do report it.”
What do the authorities do to stop ASF? Dr Israel Brito: “The principle until now has been to eliminate all the outbreaks that occurred. We are currently developing a plan to not only cull those animals that have been diagnosed but to cover those that could be a risk for the next big groups of pigs. They call them “perifocus” areas, that is, areas where they have not diagnosed the disease but that may represent a risk or is a poten- tial area they would like to eliminate as it could be a potential source of the disease.”
consume fresh meat. It is difficult, for most producers have diffi- culty competing with the prices produced by larger farms.”
How is the market supplied with sufficient amounts of pork? Dr Israel Brito: “Most comes from the United States. The Domin- ican Republic possesses a number of supermarket chains, but in the country there is a large informal industry regarding fresh pork and this section contributes considerably to pork consump- tion. Supermarkets only form a minor part of pork sales in the Dominican Republic.”
How do producers deal with carcasses related to ASF? Dr Israel Brito: “When the outbreaks started, and pigs started dy- ing, unfortunately we did not have any laboratory that could do diagnostics in 24 hours. Immediately after the government was notified, they proceeded to cull all animals on the farm and bury the carcasses. That was regardless of the size of the farm, to avoid the dissemination of the disease.”
In Asia we’ve seen a lot of different disposal methods, like dumping carcasses at the roadside or throwing them in rivers. Have these things also happened in the Dominican Republic? Dr Israel Brito: “Situations like those have occurred, but at a minor
8 ▶ PIG PROGRESS | Volume 38, No. 3, 2022
Do you feel that the authorities are currently doing enough? Dr Israel Brito: “From an economic perspective, we do feel that they have been doing enough. From an epidemiological perspec- tive, there could have been a lot more done by government. “The government could have done a lot better to not only control and eradicate in specific areas where the outbreaks took place on those specific farms, but also the government should consider the radius and the area that was close to that farm to prevent any recontamination coming from the nearby area. So the govern- ment should have done much better than they did – as they were just controlling the specific area where the positive cases were diagnosed.”
Is there a policy formulated for how to get out of the crisis? Dr Israel Brito: “There is currently an APHIS mission set up in the Dominican Republic, working in conjunction with national and lo- cal authorities, trying to formulate a plan of immediate steps and longer term steps with the purpose of eradicating the disease from the country.”
Is there a chance ASF virus will leave the island of Hispan- iola? And which countries should worry most? Dr Israel Brito: “Obviously, yes. We are a very touristy country – think of white beaches and the sun – and with direct contacts with countries in Europe, it is highly likely that the virus will move again. “We have various direct flights with the United States, as well as
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