GENERAL AUTHORITY FOR VETERINARY SERVICES Government implementing agency of

Update on the ASF situation in Mongolia

2nd meeting of the Standing Group Experts on African Swine for Asia. 30-31 July 2019. Tokyo, Japan GENERAL AUTHORITY FOR VETERINARY SERVICES Government implementing agency of Mongolia

A world situation of African swine fever in 2018

According to OIE, outbreaks of ASF had been reported in China and Russia on 27 December 2018 which borders with Mongolia. GENERAL AUTHORITY FOR VETERINARY SERVICES Government implementing agency of Mongolia

Pig population density in Mongolia

• Total pig population in Mongolia: 30,000 heads as of end of 2018 • 80-90 percents of pig farms are located in , Orkhon, Selenge, - Uul , and outside of city. • Backyard farms are sparsely distributed in other /provinces GENERAL AUTHORITY FOR VETERINARY SERVICES Government implementing agency of Mongolia History of ASF outbreak in Mongolia

➢ The ASF outbreak was first reported in Bulgan / of Mongolia on 1O January 2018

➢ On 15 January, following confirmation by the State Central Veterinary Laboratory (SCL), the Mongolia Government immediately notified OIE about outbreaks in Bulgan soum, Bulgan Aimag.

➢ Firthermore, occurences of ASF were diagnosed in Orkhon, Darkhan-Uul, Tuv, Dundgovi, Selenge provinces and Songino khairkhan district of Ulaanbaatar city.

➢ The fact that only backyard production systems were affected, and not medium-large scale farms, is another indication that swill feeding is probably the infection source.

➢ There are no new outbreaks of ASF in Mongola since 4 April 2019. GENERAL AUTHORITY FOR VETERINARY SERVICES Government implementing agency of Mongolia

Totally, 331 pigs were diseased and 2,862 pigs were destroyed and buried in 11 soums of 7 . Affected and killed pigs were mostly in Tuv and Selenge provinces GENERAL AUTHORITY FOR VETERINARY SERVICES Government implementing agency of Mongolia

Laboratory diagnosis

Tissue samples were collected from . Laboratory diagnosis was performed at SCVL. Used reagents are; ➢ RT-PCR ➢ qRT-PCR ➢ Ab-ELISA. GENERAL AUTHORITY FOR VETERINARY SERVICES Government implementing agency of Mongolia Confirmation of laboratory diagnosis

Lab tests results on 10 tissue samples (kidney, meat, spleen, lymph nodes, porcine steak meat, porcine meat) were confirmed by the OIE Reference Laboratories for ASF. Samples were sent to Pirbright lab on 16 of January, 2019. GENERAL AUTHORITY FOR VETERINARY SERVICES Government implementing agency of Mongolia

Control measures taken

• Pork and pork product imports, as well as the sale of half and fully processed pork products were banned as soon as the outbreaks were confirmed. The ban also covered pork used during food manufacturing processes by increasing the regulatory control of pig farms and applying regular testing for ASF. The ban was then canceled by order of Minister of Food, Agriculture and Light industry dated on 4 February 2019.

• Outbreaks of ASF in domestic pigs occurred in several provinces, but were successfully controlled by GAVS using culling of affected pig holdings, safe disposal of the carcasses, cleaning and disinfection of fence and movement restrictions

• Developed a temporary guidelines to combat with ASF and distributed it to the local veterinary departments

• Application of strict biosecurity measures specific to the different swine producing sectors including frequent cleaning and disinfection of farms, transport vehicles, and improved husbandry practices and production systems. GENERAL AUTHORITY FOR VETERINARY SERVICES Government implementing agency of Mongolia

Control measures taken continues..,

• GAVS has requested FAO to send an emergency mission to address the recent ASF outbreaks in Mongolia. The FAO Emergency Management Centre for Animal Health (EMC-AH) proposed an emergency response mission to enhance the country’s ability to respond to and prevent further spread of ASF.

• A surveillance on imported pork and porcine meat products in entities, restaurants, cafes and canteens was conducted as recommended by the state emergency committee.

• Completed a destroy of pork products with positive results

• Cleaning and disinfection of infected places and tools was carried out

• Fully prohibited the usage of swill feeding to the pigs. GENERAL AUTHORITY FOR VETERINARY SERVICES Government implementing agency of Mongolia

Lessons learnt from ASF outbreak

• There was an indication of a lack of good and healthy communication. For example, the Veterinary Department of Ulaanbaatar could not conduct outbreak investigations on the backyard farms due to the quarantine enforced by NEMA. Need of improved coordination with GASI and NEMA.

• Swill feeding and free-roaming pigs were identified as major risk factors for the spread of the virus.

• Outbreak investigation and data collection was not conducted systematically and comprehensively.

• No compensation was paid off.

• Surveillance of wild boar in at-risk areas, particularly along the border with the Russian Federation is needed GENERAL AUTHORITY FOR VETERINARY SERVICES Government implementing agency of Mongolia

What is being done in order to protect from ASF?

1. National sero-surveillance is being annually done to detect the most dominant diseases of pigs

2. Every month, GAVS through its aimag/provincial vet departments gives a guidelines to pig holders and enterprises on how to follow a biosecurity regime, control of pig movement and prohibition of swill feeding.

3. Joint team of General Authority for Veterinary services (GAVS) and General Agency for Specialized Inspection (GASI) does a risk assessment of pork products in importing countries.

4. State central veterinary laboratory does a frequent testing to detect ASF virus in pork meat products. GENERAL AUTHORITY FOR VETERINARY SERVICES Government implementing agency of Mongolia

Thank you for your attention and kind cooperation.