Farms besieged in fight to contain disease

Press, 13 February 1981, Page 1

Farms besieged in fight to contain disease

Wellington reporter

South Canterbury farms re main under siege because of an outbreak of a vesicular disease on a pig farm near Temuka. Hopes that the disease is not foot-and-mouth were raised by an animal expert last evening.

r More than 750 pigs have had to be destroyed, ■ the farm is under strict quarantine, and all stock . movements are banned ' over a 2500 square kilometre area.

The police are patrolling ; all roads into the area, extending from the Rangitata River to Burkes Pass and the Mackenzie Pass in . the west, and Pareora in the south, and all killing has stopped at the Smithfield and Pareora freezing works and the Timaru Municipal Abattoir.

A ban has also been put on all movement of slaughtered pig meat out of slaughterhouses in the area. A shipment of pigs from the suspect farm was sent for killing on Monday. It has not yet been determined whether the carcases have left the works, nor is it certain at which works they were killed. . More than 100 policemen, together with Ministry of Agriculture officials, have sealed off the suspect property, and more Ministry veterinarians were , flown in to the area from other parts of New Zealand last evening.

Surrounding areas' are being patrolled, and particular attention is being paid to pig farms in the neighbourhood that use garbage as feed. The potential. disaster for New Zealand’s meat industry was announced at a special conference called yesterday by the Minister of Agriculture (Mr MacIntyre). : “I have to inform you that an outbreak of a. suspected exotic disease in pigs was confirmed yesterday by officers . of the Animal Health Division of •the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries on a

property ■ near. Temuka,” Mr Maclntyre said. New Zealand’s trading partners had already been informed: in accordance with-formal agreements on the notification of Exotic diseases. The outbreak was on the farm of Mr John Dennis, of McNairs Road. He called in a local veterinarian, Mr J t W. Duncan, on Tuesday after he suspected something was amiss. Mr Duncan made his own tests and informed the animal health division on Tuesday evening. - Veterinarians from the Ministry travelled to Temuka and confirmed the existence of a vesicular disease on Wednesday. The disease, which could be one of four including foot-and-mouth disease, appeared to be confined to. a pen of 28 pigs, which were slaughtered after the Ministry officials had confirmed the diagnosis. However, all of Mr Dennis’s stock of 758 pigs have subsequently been

slaughtered on the farm, and buried there. It will not be possible to identify the cause of the disease specifically until material taken from the infected pigs had been examined at the World Reference Laboratory at the Animal Viruses Research Institute at Pirbright, in Surrey, England. The' samples left on a direct flight to Britain last' evening. Diagnosis will take a minimum of 48 hours after arrival of the samples, and the final diagnosis may take some days longer . if the initial tests prove negative. The Ministry said that the reason why New Zealand did not have a viral investigation laboratory of its own, . capable of diagnosing the disease, is that tests necessitate the use of live virus. . The' risks of the virus escaping, however stringent the precaution, completely outweighed the advantages of having a laboratory.

In the meantime, Ministry officials are testing all livestock on neighbouring farms up to a radius of skm and this may be extended throughout the movement control area. According to the assistant director of the Veterinary Division, Mr P. O’Hara, New Zealand has had “nothing comparable to this particular situation before.” If the disease is foot-and-mouth disease, it could be transmitted to other animals, particularly cattle, sheep, and goats. If, however, it. is one of the other vesicular diseases, it ipight be one to which only pigs are susceptible. The disease, which could have taken up to six days to manifest itself after its introduction to the farm, could not have occurred spontaneously, Mr O’Hara said. “It would have to be introduced on to the farm. How it was introduced is something we have yet to determine,” he said. So far there was no indication that any person visited the farm during the incubation period who had recently been overseas, and the last time new stock went on to the property was in November, when a local boar was -brought in. The Director-General of Agriculture (Mr M. L. Cameron) said that all the veterinarians-.' concerned with the confirmation of the disease had been overseas recently as part oi a Ministry programme to ensure that there were qualified veterinarians in New Zealand with direct experience of the vesicular diseases.

Finding the source was a secondary consideration, as the immediate requirements were to establish the movement control area and inspect stock on neighbouring farms,-he said. Mr Dennis will receive compensation from the

Government for the pigs which have been slaughtered on his farm under Ministry control. This will be at an agreed market price. y But a problem still exists with the shipment of pigs from his property on Monday. ■ - It has not yet been de : termined which of. two. possible works the consignment ‘ had gone to, ' actually received and killed the pigs. Once the

carcases are identified, they will be destroyed. It is unlikely that other meat at the same works will need to be condemned, but that will depend on whether- the disease is found on properties other than Mr Dennis’. The movement of all animals in and out of-the South Island has been suspended by the Ministry of Agriculture pending diagnosis of the suspected exotic disease outbreak.