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Commemorating the World Rabies Day: no cases of this disease are recorded in Lithuania

2020 m. September 25 d.

On 28 September each year, the World Rabies Day is commemorated to draw attention of the public to the threat of this fatally hazardous disease both to humans and animals as well as the importance of prevention with the emphasis of the enormous progress in the battle against rabies. According to information available at the State Food and Veterinary (SFVS), in the past two years, no cases of rabies have been recorded in Lithuania neither for wild, nor for domestic animals. “The absence of rabies in our country was achieved through the systematic implementation of the programme for eradication of rabies by the SFVS for fifteen years. This is a pleasing result indeed, however, diseases do not mind any borders, therefore, we must not relax, and animal keepers have to remember their responsibility to regularly vaccinate their animals against this dangerous disease, as rabies can be prevented only through the application of intensive preventive measures”, – said Mr Darius Remeika, Director of the SFVS. Back in 2005, the numbers of cases of rabies in our country were increasing dramatically (as many as 1652 cases were recorded). The disease was mostly prevalent among wild animals (80 per cent of all the cases). Before 2006, the preventive vaccination for prevention purposes was applied only for pet animals, whereas cattle and other livestock animals used to be vaccinated only in locations of outbreaks of the disease. Having started the implementation of the long-term programme for the eradication of rabies by distributing oral vaccine from aircrafts all over the country twice a year, positive results were recorded already in two years, i. e., in 2007, the recorded number of cases of rabies was three times smaller than in 2005. Analyses performed at the National Food and Veterinary Risk Assessment Institute (NFVRAI) this year confirm that the effectiveness of the vaccination of wild animals susceptible to the disease is very high, i. e. up to 84–92 per cent. Blood testing data analysis showed that nearly 45 per cent of wild animals susceptible to the disease (foxes and racoons) had developed immunity for the causative agent of rabies. Last case of rabies was diagnosed in Lithuania for a dead fox in the border area with Belarus in 2018. However, there are still cases of this disease both among domestic and wild animals in the neighbouring countries (Belarus and Poland), therefore, there is always a risk that infected wild animals might happen to come to Lithuania. Therefore, the vaccination of wild animals against rabies is further carried out twice a year – in the spring and in the autumn. At the time of the vaccination, baits with a vaccine against rabies are distributed from small aircrafts. This year, the spring vaccination of wild animals was carried out in April and May while the autumn vaccination is going to be started on 2 October. We would like to remind that owners of dogs, cats or ferrets are also obliged to vaccinate their pets against rabies once per 12 months, or if a long-acting vaccine is used the vaccination has to be performed in accordance with manufacturer’s instructions. The veterinarian who performs the vaccination has to make records with the indication of the date of the vaccination and the validity date of the vaccine in the vaccination certificate or in the pet passport. Diagnostic studies of rabies and studies of the effectiveness of the oral vaccination, which are carried out and which receive a lot of attention in Lithuania, demonstrate the effectiveness of combatting this fatal disease. According to information of the World Health Organisation, no more cases of rabies are recorded among human population in Europe. However, the infection is still prevalent in the continents of Africa, Asia and South America. The highest morbidity rates among adults and children are recorded in the continent of Asia, in particular, in India. Last fatal case from this disease in Lithuania was recorded in 2007.

The SFVS started implementation of one more EU twinning project in Moldova

2020 m. September 25 d.

In September, the State Food and Veterinary Service (SFVS), in consortium with three institutions from Europe, started implementation of an EU twinning project for further support of the Republic of Moldova. This is a large-scale project on the development and strengthening of agriculture, rural development and food safety, which is implemented by the SFVS jointly with colleagues from “Agrarmarkt“ (AMA) in Austria and the Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture (ARMA) in Poland. The project will last for three years. The implementing institutions will work in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment of Moldova (MARDE), the Agency for Intervention and Payments in Agriculture (AIPA) and the National Food Safety Agency (ANSA). The major objective of the twinning project is to support and to provide assistance in the development of an effective legal and institutional system for agriculture and rural areas in Moldova this way contributing to the sustainable development of agriculture, management of climate change effects and general transformations in the country. The aim is to improve the national legal regulation of food safety, official control in the animal and animal origin food sectors creating possibilities for producers of animal origin products in Moldova to get entitled for export of their production to the EU Member States as well as other countries. In the words of Director of the SFVS Mr Darius Remeika, significant initial steps had already been taken under the twinning projects previously implemented by the SFVS. Institutions in Moldova are provided actual opportunities to consolidate institutional capacities available at different institutions and to clearly define the scopes of food safety management, building the policy of agriculture and rural development, policy implementation, control, monitoring and assessment by separating powers and functions and, at the same time, encouraging the cooperation. “I believe that we have a good example of such cooperation in Lithuania. This is the cooperation between the SFSV, the National Paying Agency under the Ministry of Agriculture and the public institution Rural Business and Market Development Agency. For example, if a farmer applies for support for investments into tangible assets, processing of agricultural products, marketing or development, three state institutions act in cooperation, exchange information and data of registers, conducts inspections, provide conclusions of their assessment, etc. Processes within institutions are speedy and effective so that support to farmers is provided in a responsible and professional manner. I am sure that the longtime experience of the SFVS in expanding export markets and participating in different projects will help specialists of the beneficiary institutions to make an assessment of their legal documents, principles of organising the official control as well as different aspects of implementation of monitoring plans with the assessment of the compliance of animal origin food processing plants with EU food safety requirements”, – said Mr D. Remeika, Director of the SFVS. Experts of the SFVS, in the process of the implementation of project activities, will help ANSA in Moldova to implement provisions of requirements of EU legislation in the animal and animal origin food sectors. Furthermore, they will share information and provide recommendations for obtaining permissions to export poultry meat and composite products containing milk or meat products into EU Member States and other countries. Training both for ANSA specialists and representatives of business operators are planned under the project. Methodological assistance will be also provided to the major food safety laboratory of Moldova (Centrul Respublican de Diagnostica Veterinara).

SFVS starts to implement another international project

2020 m. September 02 d.

From the beginning of September, the State Food and Veterinary Service (SFVS) together with its partners have started implementing a new Twinning project in the Balkan region – Bosnia and Herzegovina. This project aims to share the practical experience gained by the professionals, ensuring the highest standards of food safety and quality control. "This is the ninth EU Twinning project implemented by the SFVS. We are pleased that the food and veterinary control system operating in our country, the preventive measures applied to ensure a high level of food quality and safety are considered as an example for the countries willing to join the EU or improve their control systems. At the same time, this project will also serve to strengthen the international relations, contribute to the promotion of the country’s name and the increase of trust and awareness of Lithuanian agricultural and food products”, – said Darius Remeika, the Director of the SFVS. The project will include a review of the food safety legislation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and its consistent alignment with the common rights and obligations of the EU Member States (acquis), as well as the capacity increase of the competent authority for the official food control, the creation of a system for products with protected designations of origin and geographical indications or a reference to the traditional speciality guaranteed. The SFVS will implement the project together with the experts from the competent Italian and Hungarian services. It is planned to last for 3 years.

Researchers invite the hunters to the meetings to discuss relevant AFS control issues

2020 m. September 01 d.

African swine fever (ASF) has been already circulating in Lithuania for seven years and continues to cause significant losses and concern to pig keepers, hunters as well as state control authorities. Thus, in addressing the challenges of ASF and carrying out the effective disease surveillance and control, it is essential to exchange experiences – researchers need the support of hunters, which is important in finding the best scientific and practical ways to stop the spread of ASF and combat the disease. The ASF research experts in Lithuania, together with a team of scientists from other countries, will start organising the meetings with hunters in September, during which they will seek to find out the motivation and opportunities of hunters to fight this viral disease in pigs and boars more effectively. With the help of hunters, it is planned to conduct an interactive research covering all counties of Lithuania. This study will take about two months and will take place in working groups, involving 4–6 hunters to discuss ASF control measures. In order to meet with hunters, the scientists will travel to every region of the country. The researchers plan to meet with representatives of hunters from all Lithuanian counties. It is planned that during these meetings, the hunters will not only be able to discuss the control measures of ASF, but also learn other information relevant to them. According to the researchers of the African Swine Fever Competence Center of the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, the problem of ASF remains a priority issue both for Lithuania and other EU countries. It is therefore expected that the active involvement and participation of hunters will lead to more effective control measures for this disease and will contribute to ensuring that the monitoring of ASF meets the needs and capabilities of all. The hunters willing to participate in the meetings with the scientists are invited to actively register by filling in the form available on the following link https://bit.ly/34SGLS6.

The second outbreak of African swine fever this year has been recorded in Lithuania

2020 m. July 29 d.

The State Food and Veterinary Service (SFVS) informs that, in the situation when new cases of African swine fever (ASF) in the wildlife are still recorded from time to time, Telšiai country faces the highest probability for the introduction of this virus into farm holdings this year, and residents of Plungė district who are rearing pigs have to be particularly alert. The second ASF outbreak this year has been recorded in Plungė district, in a small farm where 5 pigs were fattened for own purposes. Suspicions of the disease arose when one of the pigs died all of a sudden in the farm holding. Blood samples were taken from all the pigs, organ samples were taken from the dead pig, and the samples were sent to the National Food and Veterinary Risk Assessment Institute where ASF was diagnosed for all the pigs. Yesterday, two more pigs died. The outbreak eradication operations are carried at the farm holding today. A 3 km protection zone and a 10 km surveillance zone have been demarcated around the infected farm holding covering areas of Plungė and Skuodas districts. A census of pig keepers and pigs kept will be carried out in those areas to find out if the ASF has not spread outside the boundaries of the farm holding. SFVS specialists started an investigation to determine how the ASF virus could have been introduced into the farm holding. According to surveillance data of a few years, the major source of the introduction of the ASF virus into pig keeping places is contaminated environment and the circulation of the ASF virus in wild boar. The latest ASF cases in dead wild boar in Plungė district were recorded on 23 July. Before that, the virus was also confirmed for a hunted wild boar on 18 June. Specialists engaged in investigations observe quite intensive circulation of this virus in Samogitia, in particular in areas of Plungė district, and the numbers of dead wild boar can be substantially higher, however, the search for dead wild boar in those areas is not very active, moreover, the spotting of dead animals in the summer season becomes complicated because of high grass, etc. And still the highest risk in infected areas is posed by human activity, i. e. visiting forests located in infected areas, gathering mushrooms, berries, and, in particular, ignoring biosafety requirements in farm holdings. Therefore, it is very likely that with the intensive circulation of the virus in the wildlife and with pig keepers failing to duly observe biosafety requirements, the infection can be transmitted from the wildlife to non-commercial pig keeping holdings. In Plungė district alone, there are more than 170 pig rearing farm holdings with more than 500 pigs kept. The SFVS warns that persons keeping pigs have to avoid visiting forests infected with ASF. If a dead wild boar is found the carrion must not be touched to preclude the increase in the spread of the virus. In case of an ASF risk, animals must be protected against any potential contact with persons from outside, other animals; pigs must not be fed with heat untreated feed or kitchen swill. Footwear, working clothes have to be changed before going to an animal house, only items and supplies dedicated for feeding and attending pigs must be used. Personal hygiene must be observed and hands must be washed regularly. Each pig keeper has to apply maximum efforts to preclude the introduction of the virus into his farm holding as, in case of detection of ASF, due to different restrictions to be applied, substantial losses are incurred not only by him but also by other pig rearing farm holdings in the surrounding areas as well as slaughterhouses or meat processing plants. According to specialists’ opinion, in view of cases recorded in the wildlife, there is also a high risk of the occurrence of ASF in pig keeping holdings in Kaunas, Telšiai, Švenčionys, Utena, Molėtai and Vilnius districts. In the neighboring countries, the ASF situation is not favorable as well. In Latvia, there have been 3 outbreaks recorded this year with more than 11.5 thousand of pigs destroyed, while in Poland there were as many as 15 outbreaks with nearly 40 thousand pigs destroyed. In case any changes in the behavior of pigs kept are noticed or if they die, you must immediately contact veterinary specialists or report the SFVS on the 24-hour free phone line 8 800 40 403.

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State food and veterinary service
State budgetary institution The Register of Legal Entities
code: 188601279

Address: Siesikų str. 19,
07170 Vilnius Lithuania
Tel. +370 5 240 4361
E-mail: info@vmvt.lt

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Published:
2020-09-10

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