Assessment of listing and categorisation of animal diseases within the framework of the Animal Health Law (Regulation (EU) No 2016/429): Aujeszky's disease

Abstract

Aujeszky's disease has been assessed according to the criteria of the Animal Health Law (AHL), in particular criteria of Article 7 on disease profile and impacts, Article 5 on the eligibility of Aujeszky's disease to be listed, Article 9 for the categorisation of Aujeszky's disease according to disease prevention and control rules as in Annex IV and Article 8 on the list of animal species related to Aujeszky's disease. The assessment has been performed following a methodology composed of information collection and compilation, expert judgement on each criterion at individual and, if no consensus was reached before, also at collective level. The output is composed of the categorical answer, and for the questions where no consensus was reached, the different supporting views are reported. Details on the methodology used for this assessment are explained in a separate opinion. According to the assessment performed, Aujeszky's disease can be considered eligible to be listed for Union intervention as laid down in Article 5(3) of the AHL. The disease would comply with the criteria as in sections 4 and 5 of Annex IV of the AHL, for the application of the disease prevention and control rules referred to in points (d) and (e) of Article 9(1). The animal species to be listed for Aujeszky's disease according to Article 8(3) criteria are mainly the species of the family of Suidae as susceptible species, although almost all mammals can be infected, and Sus scrofa as reservoir species.

Intestinal Viral Loads and Inactivation Kinetics of Livestock Viruses Relevant for Natural Casing Production: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…New born and nursing pigs are most severely affected showing mortality rates of 100% and 50%, respectively. Respiratory and neurological signs (mad itch) in weaned pigs and abortions in pregnant sows are hallmarks of this disease [ 78 , 79 , 80 ]. Eradication of PrV in large parts of the world was feasible due to efficacious marker vaccines in combination with accurate differential diagnostic tools [ 81 ].…”

Application of Methods to Assess Animal Welfare and Suffering Caused by Infectious Diseases in Cattle and Swine Populations

“…These were grouped into different “clinical entities” (i.e., disease stages with clinical signs that typically occur concurrently for the disease in question) and a summary of the occurrence and duration of the diseases based on literature reviews and EKEs. The assessment using EKEs was performed based on a derivative of the Delphi method [ 5 ], which has previously been used for infectious diseases and animal welfare in connection with the Animal Health Law [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ]. The approach consists of a two-step individual assessment followed by collective behavioural aggregation [ 5 ].…”

“…The annual incidence risk of Aujeszky’s disease virus infection in Danish pig herds prior to the initiation of the eradication programme in 1982 was reported to be 90 positive herds (Bitsch, 1984) out of a total of 55,000 pig holdings, yielding an annual incidence risk of 0.16%, which was similar across all age groups. Morbidity has been reported to be generally high at 100% [ 8 ], while mortality is considered highest in young animals (e.g., piglets < 3 weeks = 100%) and declining with increasing age (e.g., weaners and finishers = 50%, adult pigs < 5%). Adult pigs have a varying morbidity ranging from 10–30%.…”

Comparison of Different Extraction Procedures for Isolating Bacteriostatic and Anti-pseudorabies Virus Components from Rodgersia Sambucifolia (Hemsl)

“…2 According to reports, the estimated losses due to PRV infection in the United States swine industry ranged from $21 million to nearly $33 million per year. 3 Medicinal plants are considered a repository of bioactive ingredients possessing varied therapeutic features. A unique approach to both the overuse of antibiotics and identification of effective antiviral agents is investigation of Chinese herbal medicines (CHM) that have been associated with antibacterial and antiviral effects.…”