Costa Rica received official recognition as a country free of Classical Swine Fever (PPC). The resolution was approved in the general session N°86 of the World Assembly of Delegates of the World Organization of Animal Health (OIE), held in Paris.
This recognition gives Costa Rica an official sanitary status, since the disease is not in the country and the conditions of legislation, veterinary services, control and eradication strategy, laboratory diagnosis, animal identification system, and control of their movements have been met. The last case of this disease occurred in 1997.
This international status will boost negotiations with third countries in order to reach sanitary agreements for the export of pigs and their products,”
said Federico Chaverri, director of the National Animal Health Service (SENASA).
Classical swine fever (CSF) is a fatal contagious viral disease of domestic and wild pig. It is also classified in the OIE list of notifiable diseases.
Currently, it is one of the diseases that causes more damage to the global swine industry, which is a serious economic problem for the affected countries. During 2017, in the American continent there was only confirmation of the disease in Peru and Ecuador. There are also suspicions of its presence in Bolivia.
According to SENASA, for the country to maintain the status of “disease free” it is necessary to continue applying the sanitary measures established in the Epidemiological Surveillance Program, in charge of active and passive surveillance throughout the national territory.
According to the 2014 Agricultural Census, in the country there are about 14 thousand farms with pigs, with a population of approximately 400 thousand pigs.