Istituto G. Caporale, OIE and WSPA in Egypt

Representatives of the Egyptian Government, the World Organisation of Animal Health (OIE) and its Collaborating Centre for Animal Welfare at Teramo, as well as representatives from the World Society for Protection of Animals (WSPA) met during two days at the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, General Organisation for Veterinary Services in Cairo to discuss on possible improvements of the culling methods for disease prevention and control purposes implemented by the Egyptian authorities.

To date there is no evidence that animals are playing any role in the spread of the virus. Nevertheless, according to OIE recommendations, veterinary authorities should work in collaboration with human health counterparts to monitor pig for any signs of unusual illness with suspected linkages to human cases of A/H1N1 influenza.

With regard to the specific situation in Egypt where the government decided to cull the pig population present in Cairo as a preventive control measure, all parties agreed that these operations should be carried out according to OIE international recognised standards on killing for disease control purposes. It was agreed that priority would be given to arranging the necessary training and technical assistance programmes regarding killing for disease control purposes and to identifying international sources of financial and technical support to assist the Egyptian government. This also includes with the establishment of a modern pig industry outside the urban areas.

The Egyptian Government welcomed the offer of assistance from both WSPA and the OIE Collaborating Centre to arrange a targeted training programme for a selected group of GOVS veterinarians.