INTRODUCTION:
Livestock in Pakistan inevitably plays a pivotal role in
socio-economic life of the rural community.The role of
Livestock in rural economy can be realized from the fact that
30-35 millions rural population is engaged in Livestock
raising having holding of 2-3 cattle buffaloes and 5-6 sheep &
goat per family deriving 30-40 % of their income from it.
Livestock products in the shape of milk, meat, butter and
other milk by products are the major sources of animal protein
& fat for human consumption/better health. Protein of animal
origin is indispensable for the proper growth and built up
especially in the growing human body. The recommended human
consumption of animal protein is 36 grams per capita per day
but we hardly consume/receive 18.0 grams per day, which is
much lower than the actual requirement. This situation needs
to be reviewed not only for proper growth of healthy
generation but also to improve the socio-economic structure of
rural community, which are 75% of total population of the
Pakistan. The livestock sector contributed 9% to GDP and 36%
to the Agriculture sector during the year 2001-2002.
EXPORT OF LIVESTOCK:
Pakistan is earning a reasonable amount of foreign exchange
with the export of livestock and livestock bye products e.g.
Beef, Mutton, Skins, Hides, Finished Leather, Leather goods,
raw wool, Carpets, and foot wears etc. According to an
estimate, a sum of Rs. 39.5 Billions was earned through export
of livestock by-products during the year 2001-2002. Obviously
protection of livestock wealth against diseases and provision
of proper treatment amounts to monitory support of the
livestock owners, which ultimately contributes to economy of
the people and at large towards the NATIONAL ECONOMY.
Livestock Population of Pakistan:
S/No |
Species |
Population |
1. |
Buffalo |
24030000 |
2. |
Cattle |
22857000 |
3. |
Sheep |
24398000 |
4. |
Goat |
50917000 |
5. |
Camel |
758000 |
6. |
Asses |
3977000 |
7. |
Horses |
318000 |
8. |
Mules |
202000 |
Transboundry
Animal Diseases:
Pakistan is facing challenges to establish its economy on
sounds grounds by introducing new technologies in every field.
In livestock sector the main threat is to eradicate the
Transboundry Animal Diseases to compete for the export of
livestock and livestock products. Under the Transboundry
Animal Diseases Rinderpest disease, Foot and Mouth disease and
Pest des petites Ruminants (PPR) are the main diseases of
global concern.
Rinderpest Disease:
Rinderpest is an infectious and contagious disease which is
caused by a morbillivirus belonging to the family
Paramyxoviridae. It is a member of a small group of viruses,
which includes human measles, canine distemper and PPR.
Disease Transmission:
The diseases spread through the virus transmission by the
respiratory route through infected droplets. It requires close
contact such as in the milk sheds, village watering place or
common pond, common grazing place or area, in the cattle
markets and on the back of transporting vehicle. The contact
must involve an infected animal (excreting phase of the
disease) and an uninfected animal.
Susceptible Animals:
Among the domestic animals Cattle, domestic buffalo, yaks,
Sheep and Goat, camels and pigs are Rinderpest susceptible and
may be affected to a greater or lesser degree. In addition a
number of wildlife species including bull, various species of
Deer and Gazelle may also be affected by Rinderpest Disease.
The Global Rinderpest Eradication Programme (GREP)
is a time-bound programme to eliminate
Rinderpest from the world by the year 2010. Strategies have
been devised and programmes implemented to reduce the
clinical incidence of Rinderpest to zero. limination of
disease and infection will be confirmed by statistically valid
active disease surveillance programmes.
The Global Rinderpest Eradication Programme has
shown that:
1.
National
Rinderpest campaigns have been successful
2. Rinderpest is now confined to defined foci in Eastern
Africa, South and West Asia
3. An outbreak of Rinderpest outside the known endemic foci
should be treating as Emergency
4. Mass vaccination of national/regional herds is no longer
necessary
5. GREP strategy everywhere should emphasize on Early Warning,
Early Reaction, Contingency Planning and National Commitment
to the OIE pathway.
Rinderpest eradication by 2010:
Within the next decade there is a very real prospect that
Rinderpest will become, like smallpox in humans, a disease of
the past. Today, as we enter a new millennium, progress made
by the Global Rinderpest Eradication Programme (GREP), has
limited the disease to a small number of sites in eastern
Africa, South Asia and the Middle East. But the specter of
cattle plague, with its devastating epidemics of the past,
continues to be a threat as long as these few small areas
harbor Rinderpest. So, intensified action for these
remaining pockets of Rinderpest infection is being promoted
and co-coordinated by FAO under GREP.
Background:
The control of Rinderpest to the point we are at today has
been a remarkable triumph for veterinary science and national
commitment but it has not been achieved without setbacks. As
recently as the 1980s, Rinderpest raged across Africa, and
this occurred at a time when the disease was thought to have
been beaten after a very successful international vaccination
campaign through the 1960s and 1970s. But with hindsight,
the campaign stopped too soon and, from small remaining
pockets of infection, the disease escaped. Countries were not
prepared, the cattle vulnerable and the cattle plague spread
rapidly, just as it had nearly a century before, when the
majority of domestic cattle and susceptible wildlife were
killed in a broad swathe across sub-Saharan Africa. A similar
pattern of Rinderpest epidemics was also experienced in Asia
in the 1980s when the disease spread back from South Asia
to borders of Europe. The lesson of these events is that near
eradication is not good enough.
What is The OIE Pathway?
The current goal of Rinderpest control is to achieve freedom
of countries and later of entire world regions from Rinderpest
with the ultimate aim of achieving global eradication. It is
therefore necessary to institute a system for verifying the
steps towards these short and long term aims, and to assist
countries, which wish to trade in livestock and livestock
products, but face difficulties due to the presence or past
occurrence of Rinderpest. This system, elaborated during the
expert consultation held in Paris (August 1989) on Rinderpest
Surveillance Systems (described in the document "Recommended
Standards for epidemiological surveillance systems for
Rinderpest"), has since become informally but widely known as
the OIE PATHWAY. These standards were adopted by the 66th
general session of the OIE (Office International des
Epizooties) and now form part of the International Animal
Health Code, section 4.5.1.1, page 379 (OIE, 1998).
Steps to be taken to declare a country to be free from
Rinderpest: |
A three-stage process of achieving and proving freedom
from
Rinderpest is envisaged. Once a country is satisfied
that it is free
from Rinderpest and that the disease is unlikely to be
re-
introduced, the country can declare itself provisionally
free from
Rinderpest provided it is satisfied it meets the
criteria listed
below.
Subsequent
steps are then subject to international verification
under the auspices of the OIE. At least three years
after a
country has declared itself provisionally free from
Rinderpest, a
country which meets the criteria stated below may be
declared
by the OIE to be free from Rinderpest disease. At least
one year
later, a country which meets more stringent criteria
with regard
to Rinderpest may be declared free from Rinderpest
infection.
The specific
criteria proposed for each stage of this process are
as follows: |
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Provisional freedom from Rinderpest:
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For a country to declare itself (or a zone within the
country)
provisionally free from Rinderpest, it must fulfill
certain
conditions, which are: |
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Freedom
from Rinderpest disease: |
A country or a zone which has not vaccinated against
Rinderpest
for at least five years and has throughout that period
had no
evidence of Rinderpest may be declared free from
Rinderpest
disease by the OIE based on conclusions of the FMD and
Other
Epizootics Commission, provided that the country has had
throughout that period and maintains permanently an
adequate
disease reporting system. |
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Or |
A country which has declared itself, or a zone within
the country, to
be provisionally free from Rinderpest may be declared by
the OIE
free from Rinderpest disease provided that the
following criteria are
met: |
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no
Rinderpest vaccines have been used for at least three
years in any susceptible species, and no heterogonous
vaccines against Rinderpest have been used for at
least three years in cattle, buffaloes or yaks;
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On meeting these criteria, a country may apply to the
OIE to be
declared free from Rinderpest disease. To maintain this
status, a
country must continue to meet these requirements until
it is
declared free from Rinderpest infection, and must
annually report
a summary of developments to the OIE. |
In order to
maintain this status, the country must continue to operate an
efficient disease reporting system, which would detect
Rinderpest if it occurred.
Status of some Asian countries regarding
Rinderpest Disease
India |
No
of cattle |
209,489,136 |
Source: FAO Database (1998) |
Last outbreak reported |
09/1995 |
OIE information bulletin Vol. 11 No 17 30/04/1998 |
Virus lineage |
Asian lineage |
/
|
Vaccinating (1999) |
/
|
/
|
Last vaccination |
1/03/1998 (Zone C) |
OIE information bulletin Vol.11 No 17 30/04/1998 |
OIE declaration |
Yes |
Source: OIE information bulletin 8[42], 133-134 of
24/11/1995 ; 9[18], 55-56 of 17/05/1996 and OIE
information bulletin Vol. 11 No 17 30/04/1998 |
|
Bhutan |
No
of cattle |
435,000 |
Source: FAO Database (1998) |
Last outbreak reported |
1968 |
Source: OIE information bulletin Vol. 5 No 14
10/04/1992 |
Virus lineage |
Asian Lineage |
/
|
Vaccinating (1999) |
No
|
/
|
Last vaccination |
1986 |
Source: OIE information bulletin Vol. 5 No 14
10/04/1992 |
OIE declaration |
Yes |
Source: OIE information bulletin Vol. 5 No 14
10/04/1992 |
|
Jordan |
No
of cattle |
65,000 |
Source: FAO Database (1998) |
Last outbreak reported |
1971 |
Source: OIE information bulletin Vol.11 No 49
11/12/1998 |
Virus lineage |
Asian lineage |
/
|
Vaccinating (1999) |
No
|
/
|
Last vaccination |
1997 |
Source: OIE information bulletin Vol.11 No 49
11/12/1998 |
OIE declaration |
Yes |
Source: OIE information bulletin Vol.11 No 49
11/12/1998 |
|
Nepal |
No
of cattle |
7,024,780 |
Source: FAO Database (1998) |
Last outbreak reported |
1990 |
Fax October 7, 1996 from Department of Livestock
Services |
Virus lineage |
Asian Lineage |
/
|
Vaccinating (1999) |
No
|
/
|
Last vaccination |
15/04/1995 |
Fax October 7, 1996 from Department of Livestock
Services |
OIE declaration |
Yes (1996) |
Fax October 7, 1996 from Department of Livestock
Services |
|
Sri Lanka |
No
of cattle |
1,599,000 |
Source: FAO Database (1999) |
Last outbreak reported |
11/1992. |
OIE information bulletin Vol. 12 No. 44 19/11/1999 |
Virus lineage |
Asian lineage |
/
|
Last vaccination |
3/1993 |
OIE information bulletin Vol. 12 No. 44 19/11/1999 |
OIE declaration |
Yes |
Source: OIE information bulletin Vol. 12 No.
44 19/11/1999 |
|
Turkey |
No
of cattle |
11,185,000 |
Source: FAO Database (1998) |
Last outbreak reported |
01/1996 |
Source: OIE information bulletin Vol.12 No
912/03/1999 |
Virus lineage |
/
|
/
|
Vaccinating (1999) |
No
|
/
|
Last vaccination |
01/10/1999 |
/
|
OIE declaration |
Yes |
Source: OIE information bulletin Vol.12 No
912/03/1999 |
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Status of Pakistan:
Pakistan is on
the way to get the Rinderpest Disease free status from OIE in
near future. The Global Rinderpest Eradication Program was
started in 1998 with the objective to eradicate the disease
since 2010. The activities in this regard are in progress with
the coordination of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of
United Nation (UN). Sero Surveillance and Disease Surveillance
for the Transboundry Animal Diseases in Pakistan are underway
by the trained veterinary staff with efficient disease
reporting system. In year 2000 the vaccination against
Rinderpest disease was stopped and in January, 2003 Pakistan
declared it self Rinderpest Disease Free country
provisionally. Currently Pakistan is provisionally Rinderpest
Disease Free country since 2003 and with the active disease,
sero surveillance program with favorable surveillance results
after 3 more years, Pakistan will be declared Rinderpest
Disease Free Country, Insha Allah.
Source:
Recognizing Rinderpest (A field
manual for the Pakistan Rinderpest Eradication Program)
FAO website
www.fao.org
-----------------------------------------
Dr Muhammad
Rasheed PDS expert L&DD Punjab Pakistan Email:
vetdr@swl.paknet.com.pk
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Pakissan.com;
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