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S'pore, M'sia Vet Protocols Effective Against Possible Bird Flu

By Jackson Sawatan

SINGAPORE, March 6 (Bernama) - The establishment of protocols between the Singaporean and Malaysian veterinary authorities has been effective in preventing possible incursion of the highly pathogenic Avian influenza of Bird Flu into Singapore, its parliament was told Monday.

At the same time, it minimised the impact on local supply should there be suspension of poultry and egg imports from certain areas in Malaysia, Minister of State for National Development Heng Chee How said.

"Over the last two years, AVA (Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority) has been working with its Malaysian counterpart to establish disease-free zones. Poultry can be imported from these zones even if isolated cases of Bird Flu are detected in other areas," he said.

It was in accordance with these protocols that the AVA suspended poultry and egg imports from Selangor.

Under the established protocols, however, AVA, which is the republic's food security authority, did not suspend all poultry imports from Malaysia, unlike the outbreak in Kelantan in 2004.

"The impact on our egg and poultry supply this time was negligible," he said.

AVA suspended imports of poultry and eggs from Selangor on Feb 20 following the detection of H5N1 virus among kampung (free-range) chicken at a village there.

The suspension did not affect poultry imports from the disease-free zones of Johor, Melaka, Perak and Negri Sembilan.

Describing the Bird Flu as the most threatening disease to Singapore's food supply, Heng spelled out a comprehensive approach taken by Singapore against the disease, which includes engaging Asean counterparts in efforts to combat the disease.

"To garner international support and maintain urgency, we will continue to keep Bird Flu on the agenda of international fora. AVA is also helping to train Indonesian officers in lab diagnosis and surveillance skills," he said.

At the borders, Singapore maintained a high state of alert with AVA conducting 100 per cent inspections on poultry imports, and works with the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority and the police to guard against smuggling of birds.

AVA also requires local poultry farms to maintain high levels of bio-security, and regularly inspects those poultry farms and slaughter houses.

"We have banned poultry rearing on Pulau Ubin to remove the risk posed by backyard farming. Households on the mainland are not allowed to keep more than 10 caged chickens," he said.

Other measures include bio-segregation measures to minimise inter-farm contact by requiring farms not to share equipment and separating egg collection from production areas.

"With effective bio-segregation, should there be an isolated outbreak within a cluster, poultry in other clusters need not be culled, thus enhancing the resilience of our local egg supply," he said.

AVA would also implement emergency vaccination of poultry in local farms, when there was an imminent risk of Bird Flu incursion into Singapore, he added.

-- BERNAMA