Monday, July 13, 2009
Brucellosis testing moves north
Fiji’s agriculture officials will begin testing northern farms tomorrow for brucellosis, it has been confirmed.Principal veterinary officer Dr Robin Achari told FijiLive a total of 4200 cattle had been tested in Viti Levu.Of this number, 315 cattle tested positive.He however confirmed the disease had not spread to humans or any other animals as yet.About 57 farms were tested.A committee has been formed to oversee the Brucellosis eradication campaign.The ministry has called on the public to be more supportive towards their efforts to consult the nearest livestock office if they have any doubts.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Officers beef up security
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Animal health and protection officer Binay Pratap sprays a vehicle at the quarantine checkpoint at Wainivesi, Tailevu, yesterday.
QUARANTINE and police officers have increased security at cattle farms where the brucellosis bacterium was found as they take shifts in manning the checkpoint monitoring the movement of vehicles to and from the infected farms.
Spokesman Joe Uluilakeba said the checkpoint set up at the entrance of infected farms would be manned by quarantine, police and livestock officers.
He said they would spray every vehicle that entered or exited any area where there were infected farms with an alcohol-based anti-bacterial spray. Mr Uluil-akeba said the officers, who had been appointed tempor-ary bio-security off-icers during this brucellosis emerg-ency operation, wo-uld be present at all checkpoints in qua-rantined areas 24 hours.
Director quarantine Hiagi Foraete said the chemicals used to spray the vehicles were to re-move the bacterium from soil on tyres.
Agriculture permanent secretary Dr Richard Beyers said the ministry had mobilised teams and organised training for farmers to educate them on the impact of brucellosis.
Animal health and protection officer Binay Pratap sprays a vehicle at the quarantine checkpoint at Wainivesi, Tailevu, yesterday.
QUARANTINE and police officers have increased security at cattle farms where the brucellosis bacterium was found as they take shifts in manning the checkpoint monitoring the movement of vehicles to and from the infected farms.
Spokesman Joe Uluilakeba said the checkpoint set up at the entrance of infected farms would be manned by quarantine, police and livestock officers.
He said they would spray every vehicle that entered or exited any area where there were infected farms with an alcohol-based anti-bacterial spray. Mr Uluil-akeba said the officers, who had been appointed tempor-ary bio-security off-icers during this brucellosis emerg-ency operation, wo-uld be present at all checkpoints in qua-rantined areas 24 hours.
Director quarantine Hiagi Foraete said the chemicals used to spray the vehicles were to re-move the bacterium from soil on tyres.
Agriculture permanent secretary Dr Richard Beyers said the ministry had mobilised teams and organised training for farmers to educate them on the impact of brucellosis.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
More Fiji brucellosis cases frighten dairy industry
Fiji's Ministry of Agriculture says it has now detected bovine brucellosis in a farm in Tailevu South. The ministry says the farm is more than 100 kilometres from Tailevu North, where the bacterial infection resurfaced after it was thought to be eradicated over 10 years ago. The ministry suspects it was a result of a breeding program amongst farmers in the two areas.Last time we reported on this outbreak, the bacterial disease had caused the slaughter of around 200 cows and authorities banned milk from the area to prevent it being passed on to humans.Presenter: Geraldine CouttsSpeaker: Dr Robin Achari, Principle Veterinarian with Fiji's Department of Primary Industries abcwire.send-mungmung.ra
Listen:
Windows Media
ACHARI: The infection has been contained but we are discovering that the farmers in the same Tailevu North - Wainivesi area is coming up. More farms are showing up the sign of brucellosis and are detecting serum brucellosis in the farms, but it is still maintained in Tailevu North - Wainivesi. There is one sporadic case in another area, which is a link with one of the farms in Wainivesi the Tailevu area.COUTTS: So you're not too concerned that it showed up in Tailevu South now?ACHARI: At the moment no because there was only a couple of animals from his whole herd that tested positive to serum and we have removed those animals. We are trying to establish if there was a link. He is a son-in-law of one of the farmers in Tailevu so he must have used a bull or a heifer from his farm. So we are still trying to establish that at this point in time.COUTTS: Well last time we spoke around 200 cows had been slaughtered. How many more have been slaughtered since then?ACHARI: We have a total of 282 animals that need to be culled. We have started the process of culling and we have already completed 134, the rest are yet still to be done, yet to be completed.COUTTS: Now we've read in the local news in Fiji and on ABC Radio Australia News that some people are starting to buy imported goods because they fear using the meat slaughtered from these cows and using the dairy produce. What's happening there?ACHARI: Yes the media in Fiji have twisted the stories around so much that it's created a bit of fear in everybody, so we are working very hard through our information ministry to get the right message out to the consumers. I did not receive any reports of somebody trying to import but I will follow that up later. COUTTS: Well they're eating imported products in place of the local products is, I think, what the story is saying, because they fear eating their local products?ACHARI: This is news to me. I went round with the Rewa dairy company which is the largest dairy company in Fiji and also the Fiji Meat Industry Board and until now we have not faced anything. I think people who are trying to cash in on this somehow to get cheaper products into the country.COUTTS: Well, I suppose the theory is an issue isn't it? Because if people can catch it, then people are going to naturally assume that if people can catch it from cows that have got brucellosis then it must be passed on through the milk and the meat?ACHARI: Yes, the message that we are trying to put across is that people will catch it only if they come into contact with the aborted material. The carcass is safe because the infection is contained in the uterus, in the reproductive system of the animal. So when we, the ministry, are doing their meat inspections they remove the reproductive system intact without contaminating the carcass at all. But the milk - most of the farmers that we have found to be infected or reacting to this brucellosis, all that milk goes through a pasteurisation process so the milk is pasteurised so the bacteria is killed. So the chance of getting it from the milk is nullified because all our milk is pasteurised. And the way we eat our meat in Fiji we hardly have a rare barbecue or rare steak. We mostly cook our meat to death so the chances of bacteria surviving is minimised.
Listen:
Windows Media
ACHARI: The infection has been contained but we are discovering that the farmers in the same Tailevu North - Wainivesi area is coming up. More farms are showing up the sign of brucellosis and are detecting serum brucellosis in the farms, but it is still maintained in Tailevu North - Wainivesi. There is one sporadic case in another area, which is a link with one of the farms in Wainivesi the Tailevu area.COUTTS: So you're not too concerned that it showed up in Tailevu South now?ACHARI: At the moment no because there was only a couple of animals from his whole herd that tested positive to serum and we have removed those animals. We are trying to establish if there was a link. He is a son-in-law of one of the farmers in Tailevu so he must have used a bull or a heifer from his farm. So we are still trying to establish that at this point in time.COUTTS: Well last time we spoke around 200 cows had been slaughtered. How many more have been slaughtered since then?ACHARI: We have a total of 282 animals that need to be culled. We have started the process of culling and we have already completed 134, the rest are yet still to be done, yet to be completed.COUTTS: Now we've read in the local news in Fiji and on ABC Radio Australia News that some people are starting to buy imported goods because they fear using the meat slaughtered from these cows and using the dairy produce. What's happening there?ACHARI: Yes the media in Fiji have twisted the stories around so much that it's created a bit of fear in everybody, so we are working very hard through our information ministry to get the right message out to the consumers. I did not receive any reports of somebody trying to import but I will follow that up later. COUTTS: Well they're eating imported products in place of the local products is, I think, what the story is saying, because they fear eating their local products?ACHARI: This is news to me. I went round with the Rewa dairy company which is the largest dairy company in Fiji and also the Fiji Meat Industry Board and until now we have not faced anything. I think people who are trying to cash in on this somehow to get cheaper products into the country.COUTTS: Well, I suppose the theory is an issue isn't it? Because if people can catch it, then people are going to naturally assume that if people can catch it from cows that have got brucellosis then it must be passed on through the milk and the meat?ACHARI: Yes, the message that we are trying to put across is that people will catch it only if they come into contact with the aborted material. The carcass is safe because the infection is contained in the uterus, in the reproductive system of the animal. So when we, the ministry, are doing their meat inspections they remove the reproductive system intact without contaminating the carcass at all. But the milk - most of the farmers that we have found to be infected or reacting to this brucellosis, all that milk goes through a pasteurisation process so the milk is pasteurised so the bacteria is killed. So the chance of getting it from the milk is nullified because all our milk is pasteurised. And the way we eat our meat in Fiji we hardly have a rare barbecue or rare steak. We mostly cook our meat to death so the chances of bacteria surviving is minimised.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Frank & Co blame Australia for Fiji’s cow disease brucellosis outbreak
July 7, 2009
It would be funny if it wasn’t so serious. Radio Regime the radio propaganda machine controlled by the brother of Adolph Sayed-Khaiyum has run a story trying to blame Australia for the outbreak of brucellosis.
According to Radio Regime: “Imported semen from Australia used for breeding cows in Fiji could be the cause of the Brucellosis outbreak in Fiji.”
The evidence for this is zero. It’s just an obvious attempt to switch responsibility from the illegal regime to the Australian Government because they’ve told the dictator he has no credibility unless elections are held.
If Radio Regime had taken a moment to check the website of Animal Health Australia, they would have found that Australia has been free of brucellosis caused by Brucella abortus s;nce 1989. Check it out on their site:
http://www.animalhealthaustralia.com.au/programs/adsp/nahis/diseases/nahis_bbr.cfm
Australia has strict standards of checking animal health status, while it seems the Fiji Government now has only two veterinarians actually working their trade.
If the regime wasn’t so arrogant and stupid they would be asking Australia nicely to help eradicate the disease as quickly as possible.
If they haven’t realised it yet, the dairy farmers of Fiji, just like the cane farmers and tourism operators will realise that they paying a huge price for the tin-pot dictatorship.
It would be funny if it wasn’t so serious. Radio Regime the radio propaganda machine controlled by the brother of Adolph Sayed-Khaiyum has run a story trying to blame Australia for the outbreak of brucellosis.
According to Radio Regime: “Imported semen from Australia used for breeding cows in Fiji could be the cause of the Brucellosis outbreak in Fiji.”
The evidence for this is zero. It’s just an obvious attempt to switch responsibility from the illegal regime to the Australian Government because they’ve told the dictator he has no credibility unless elections are held.
If Radio Regime had taken a moment to check the website of Animal Health Australia, they would have found that Australia has been free of brucellosis caused by Brucella abortus s;nce 1989. Check it out on their site:
http://www.animalhealthaustralia.com.au/programs/adsp/nahis/diseases/nahis_bbr.cfm
Australia has strict standards of checking animal health status, while it seems the Fiji Government now has only two veterinarians actually working their trade.
If the regime wasn’t so arrogant and stupid they would be asking Australia nicely to help eradicate the disease as quickly as possible.
If they haven’t realised it yet, the dairy farmers of Fiji, just like the cane farmers and tourism operators will realise that they paying a huge price for the tin-pot dictatorship.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
