CWA MEETING FOCUSING ON THE “AFRICAN SWINE FEVER”

One of the many meetings held during the Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA 2023) was the Seaview Meeting which was attended by Dr. Tubal Edwards, Chief Veterinary Officer in the Ministry of Agriculture. The main topic that was discussed was ways of controlling the “African Swine Fever Outbreak”. This epidermic is currently reported to be on the island of Hispaniola. Both countries that are bordering each other which are Haiti and Santa Domingo, presently have the full-blown disease. “Both Haiti and the Dominican Republic have full-blown African Swine Fever. That meeting was basically to try and control it. We had a meeting with the USDA, FAO and IICA also formed part of that meeting” said Dr. Edwards.

According to Dr. Edwards, the USDA has a keen interest in this dilemma because it is basically on their doorstep. The USA has a seven billion dollar (US$7,000,000,000) pork industry and to be infected by the disease would be a tremendous loss. The African Swine Fever is a disease that has no known cure or treatment. Once there was an invasion of this plague there had to be a total eradication of the entire herd. This would mean that the pork industry would have to start from scratch or be reintroduced. For this to be prevented, the USDA is doing a lot to mitigate and curtail this from happening.

Efforts are being made to prevent the spreading of this disease through the region. “For us in Antigua and Barbuda we do not want it here either, our pork industry is not so big but for us to get that disease it would mean that we will lose every pig because they would have to be eliminated and then the farmers would have to be compensated. This disease would be an economy killer, not the entire economy but the pork industry”, Dr. Edwards said.

Some of the physical signs of African Swine Fever include vomiting, bloody diarrhea, redness or darkening of the skin, especially on the ears and snout and weakness. Luckily, this disease is not a zoonotic disease meaning that humans can not contract it from consuming pork however, humans can transmit it from one area to another via clothing, shoes, or by being attached to items that were once in the affected area. The USDA will be assisting the entire region in the quest to curtail the widespread of this outbreak by training technicians and farmers to detect early symptoms and through what other means they possibly can. “Presently, here in Antigua, we are in the preventative or mitigation mode”, Dr. Edwards declared.