1st Regional Workshop: Improving National and Regional Disease Surveillance, Monitoring and Reporting Systems Belgrade, Serbia, July 2013 FAO Technical Cooperation Programme TCP/RER/3402 Assistance to Western Balkan Countries for Improving Compliance to International Standards on Aquatic Animal Health EU aquatic animal health requirements Dr Sanin Tanković TCCT No1

Objectives 1 st objective is to control and reduce the impact of diseases: –in farmed populations (that is: to reduce the constraints that diseases impose to sustainability of animal production) –and in wild populations (in order to preserve ecosystems) and 2 nd objective is to prevent and effectively respond to new diseases that threaten animal health.

Tools EU establishes the requirements: –for surveillance programmes (detection of disease) and –monitoring (status and distribution of disease and pathogen).

New frame Directive 88/2006 Directives 91/67/EEC, 93/53/EEC and 95/70/EC have been repealed. Most significant changes: a new strategy for animal health surveillance based in risk analysis, emphasis in traceability of all animal movements and considering specially the role of wild aquatic populations in spreading of diseases. changes list of diseases listed, with differences between exotic and non-exotic diseases.

Listed diseases ExoticNon-exotic Fish Epizootic haemoatopoietic necrosis (EHN) Epizootic ulcerative syndrome (EUS) Spring viremia of carp (SVC) Viral haemorrahagic septicaemia (VHS) Infectious haematopoietic necrosis (IHN) Koi herpes virus (KHV) Infectious salmon anemia (ISA) Molluscs Infection with: -Bonamia exitosa -Perkinsus marinus -Mycrocystis mackini Infection with: -Martelia refringens -Bonamia ostrea Crustaceans Taura syndrome Yellowhead disease White spot disease

Health status criteria CategoryHealth statusMay introduce from Health certificationMay dispatch to Introd.Dispatching I Disease-freeOnly category 1 YesNo to categories III or V Yes to categories I, II or IV All categories II Surveillance program Only category 1 YesNoCategories III and V III UndeterminedCategories I, II or III No Categories III and V IV Eradication program Only category 1 Yes Only categories V V InfectedAll categories NoYesOnly categories V

Need of a surveillance program The legislation establishes the need of a surveillance program for each member state or countries willing to export into the community

The content of the program needs to include: a description of the epidemiological situation of the disease before the date of commencement of the program an analysis of the estimated costs and the anticipated benefits of the program the likely duration of the program and the objective to be attained by the completion date of the program a description and demarcation of the geographical and administrative area in which the program is to be applied

Period of application of programs The programs shall continue to apply until the member state, zone or compartment is declared free of the disease The program is withdrawn, if no longer fulfils its purpose.

Levels of risk High-risk Medium risk Low risk

A high-risk farm or mollusc farming has a high risk of spreading diseases to or contracting diseases from other farms or wild stocks operates under farming conditions which could increase the risk of disease outbreaks (high biomass, low water quality), sells live aquatic animals for further farming or restocking

A medium level farm or mollusc farming area is the one that: has medium risk of spreading disease to or contracting diseases from other farms or wild stocks operates under farming conditions which would not necessarily increase the risk of disease outbreaks (medium biomass and water quality) sells live aquatic animals mainly for human consumption

A low risk farm or mollusc farming area has a low risk of spreading diseases to or contracting diseases from other farms or wild stocks operates under farming conditions which would not increase the risk of disease outbreaks (low biomass and good water quality) sells live aquatic animals for human consumption only

Types of health surveillance Passive surveillance Active surveillance Targeted surveillance

Passive surveillance mandatory immediate notification of the occurrence or suspicion of listed diseases or of any increased mortalities.

Active surveillance routine inspection by the competent authority or by other qualified health services on behalf of the competent authorities examination of the aquaculture animal population on the farm or mollusc farming are for clinical disease diagnostic samples to be collected on suspicion of a listed disease or observed increased mortality during inspection mandatory immediate notification of the occurrence or suspicion of listed diseases or of any increased mortalities.

Targeted surveillance routine inspection by the competent authority or by other qualified health services on behalf of the competent authorities Prescribed samples of aquaculture animals to be taken and tested for specific pathogen(s) by specified methods. mandatory immediate notification of the occurrence or suspicion of listed diseases or of any increased mortalities.

Recommended surveillance and inspections No susceptible species to listed disease present Health statusRisk levelSurveillanceCompetent authority Aquatic Animal Health services Category ILowPassive1 every 4 years

Recommended surveillance and inspections Susceptible species to listed disease present Health statusRisk levelSurveillanceCompetent authority Aquatic Animal Health services Category I (disease free) HighActive, targetted or passive 1 every year Medium1 every 2 years Low1 every 4 years 1 every 2 years

Recommended surveillance and inspections Susceptible species to listed disease present Health statusRisk levelSurveillanceCompetent authority Aquatic Animal Health services Category II (Not declared disease free but subjected to surveillance) HighTargetted1 every year Medium1 every 2 years Low1 every 4 years 1 every 2 years

Recommended surveillance and inspections Susceptible species to listed disease present Health statusRisk levelSurveillanceCompetent authority Aquatic Animal Health services Category III (Not known to be infected but not subjected to surveillance) HighActive1 every year3 every year Medium1 every year2 every year Low1 every 2 years 1 every year

Recommended surveillance and inspections Susceptible species to listed disease present Health statusRisk levelSurveillanceCompetent authority Aquatic Animal Health services Category IV (subjected to an eradication program) HighTargeted1 every year Medium1 every 2 years Low1 every 4 years 1 every 2 years

Recommended surveillance and inspections Susceptible species to listed disease present Health statusRisk levelSurveillanceCompetent authority Aquatic Animal Health services Category V (Known to be infected subjected to minimum control measures) HighPassive1 every 4 years 1 every year Medium1 every 4 years 1 every 2 years Low1 every 4 years

Critical points in epidemiological studies applied to wild and farmed populations. The detection of infection (or its level of spread if it is present) is the most important result of most surveys, especially the official surveillance programmes. The two more relevant aspects are: – the sampling methods and the performance of the diagnostic test.

Sampling Objective of the sampling is: –detection of disease or –estimation of prevalence. The study objective has influence on the sampling strategy, that can be random or non- random, and on the calculation of sample size, where it is important to take account on population at risk (finite or infinite), estimated prevalence and diagnostic capacity.

Diagnostic accuracy Information about test sensivity and specificity should be used to convert apparent prevalence (the proportion of rest positive animals) to true prevalence (the proportion of animals that truly have the disease or pathogen in question).

Terrestrial versus aquatic animals In general, transmission and behaviour of aquatic diseases are more complex than in diseases that affect terrestrial animals due to: –the closer interaction of pathogens and hosts with the environment, –a broader range of susceptible hosts, –larger target populations and –possible interactions with wild populations.

Population at risk One of the most important tasks in designing an appropriate epidemiological survey is to clearly define the population at risk. It is therefore necessary to define susceptibility (species, age, etc) and size of the population..

Animal movement and migrations It is important to take into account movements of aquatic animals between zones (human transfers or natural migrations) as these are an effective means of disease spread. For this reason a complete register of the origin and destination of all animals moved to and from a farm must be included in any control programme. It is also necessary to register all movements related with restocking practices of watercourse.

Migrating fish The role of migrating fish is an essential factor in spread of disease, and natural or artificial barriers are desirable in order to minimize the possibility of recontamination a continental zone. For this reason, any targeted surveillance of a river-system zone must consider prevention of the upward migration of fish

Thank you for your attention!