Since the confirmation of the classical swine fever (CSF) outbreaks in the state of Ceará in 2018, and in Piauí in 2019, the intensification of the surveillance of haemorrhagic diseases has identified outbreaks in the state of Alagoas (an area not recognised as free of classical swine fever). The OIE/WOAH has confirmed 51 outbreaks in Ceará, 14 in Piaui and 7 in Alagoas since October 2018.

In Brazil there are two areas with a different animal health status regarding classical swine fever (CSF): a free area declared as such by the OIE/WOAH in June 2016 (provinces of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Acre, Bahia, Espírito Santo, Goias, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, Rondônia, São Paulo, Sergipe , Tocantins, the Federal District and the municipalities of Guajará and Boca do Acre, the southern area of the municipality of Canutama and the southwestern area of the municipality of Lábrea, in the province of Amazonas), and an area that is not free of the disease or infected (provinces of Alagoas, Amapá, Amazonas, Ceará, Maranhão, Pará, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Piauí, Rio Grande do Norte and Roraima).

In the areas free of the disease, CSF has not been detected since January 1998, whilst in the areas that are not free, Brazil notified the last outbreak of the disease in August 2009, but it reappeared in Ceará in October 2018; in Piaui, in the area bordering with Ceará, in May 2019; and now in Alagoas.

The traffic and business regarding animals between the free area and the zone not recognised as free of CSF is forbidden, and there are clear limits protected by natural barriers and control points in which surveillance procedures and procedures for the mitigation of the risks regarding the introduction of the disease into the free area are implemented continuously, following the restrictions established in the official regulations of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supplies.

According to Philstar, African swine fever (ASF) has reached the southern part of Luzon even as the government scrambles to contain the disease, which threatens the P260-billion hog industry.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar confirmed that pigs in two barangays in Dasmariñas, Cavite and in Palayan City, Nueva Ecija tested positive for ASF.

The Business Mirror informs that the DA it still conducting an investigation on how ASF spread to Cavite but noted that the province is proximate to neighboring Rizal province, which is the country’s first ground zero for the fatal hog disease.

To date, there are now more than 20 barangays who are confirmed affected by ASF in the Philippines.

In 2018, antibiotic use in terms of defined daily doses animal (DDDANATvalues) declined in the turkey farming sector (by 13.4%), the veal farming sector (by 5.4%), the dairy and non-dairy cattle farming sectors (by 0.4% and 1.7%, respectively) and the pig farming sector (by 0.4%).

While the pig farming sector still managed to reduce the amount of antibiotics used, this reduction is leveling off. With a 0.4% reduction recorded for 2018, the downward trend is nearing the 0% level.

In 2017, the pig farming sector saw an undesirable rise in the percentage of farms with weaner pigs recording action zone usage levels, as a result of the introduction of new benchmark thresholds in 2016. 2018 saw a slight improvement in this respect, with farms with weaner pigs recording usage levels that were not quite as high (the mean DDDAFof the 10% of farms with the highest usage levels dropped from 52.9 in 2017 to 44.0 in 2018). The correlation coefficient for 2017 and 2018 antibiotic use at farms with weaner pigs is 0.74. This high degree of correlation indicates that their 2017 usage level was a predictor of their 2018 usage level. This suggests that there are structural usage level differences between individual farms with weaner pigs, and shows the necessity of addressing the amounts of antibiotics used at high usage level farms.