WORLD ANIMAL HEALTH INFORMATION SYSTEM

One of the OIE’s main missions is to ensure the transparency of the world animal health situation. To achieve this aim as effectively as possible, the OIE launched the new World Animal Health Information System in January 2005, based on the commitment of OIE Member Countries and Territories (the Members) to notify cases of the main animal diseases detected in their territories, including zoonoses.

The World Animal Health Information System, better known as WAHIS, is an internet-based computer system that processes data on animal diseases and then informs the international community, by means of “alert messages”, of relevant epidemiological events in OIE Members. Access to this secure site is only available to authorised users, namely the Delegates of OIE Members and their authorised representatives, who use WAHIS to notify the OIE of relevant animal disease information.

- Whenever an important epidemiological event occurs in a Member, the Member must inform the OIE by sending an Immediate Notification (terrestrial and aquatic animals) which includes the reason for the notification, the name of the disease, the affected species, the geographical area affected, the control measures applied and any laboratory tests carried out or in progress. Diseases notifiable to the OIE used to be classified into two lists, List A and List B. In May 2004, OIE Members approved the creation of a single list of diseases notifiable to the OIE. Modifications to the List can be made annually, subject to the approval of the World Assembly of Delegates during its General Session. The modified List does not come into force until the following January, so as to ensure that the list of diseases remains the same for any given calendar year. Proposed changes to the List are based on a decision tree contained in an OIE international standard. A new list has been approved in May 2009 by the Assembly and came into force in 2010.

To improve the scope and efficiency of the OIE's early warning system, the events of epidemiological significance that Members should immediately notify to the OIE Headquarters are the following:

For terrestrial animals:

•  the first occurrence of an OIE-listed disease or infection in a country/territory or zone/compartment;

•  the re-occurrence of an OIE-listed disease or infection in a country/territory or zone/compartment following a report by the Delegate of the Member declaring the previous outbreak(s) closed;

•  the first occurrence of a new strain of a pathogen of an OIE-listed disease in a country/territory or zone/compartment;

•  a sudden and unexpected increase in morbidity or mortality caused by an existing OIE-listed disease;

•  an emerging disease with significant morbidity/mortality or zoonotic potential;

•  evidence of a change in the epidemiology of an OIE-listed disease (including host range, pathogenicity, strain of causative pathogen), in particular if there is a zoonotic impact.

For aquatic animals:

•  the first occurrence or the re-occurrence of an OIE-listed disease in a country or zone/compartment of the country previously considered to be free of the disease;

•  any occurrence of an OIE-listed disease in a new host species;

•  any occurrence of an OIE-listed disease caused by a new strain of the pathogen or in a new disease manifestation;

•  any occurrence of an OIE-listed disease, if the disease has newly recognised zoonotic potential;

•  any occurrence of an emerging disease or pathogenic agent if the event is of epidemiological significance to other countries.

World Animal Health Information System

Alert Procedure

Once they have been received, verified and validated by the OIE, the immediate notifications are published in the OIE's three official working languages (English, French and Spanish) under the heading Alerts and sent to everyone on the OIE-Info Distribution List, an electronic distribution list set up to facilitate and widen the dissemination of animal health information. This list is open not only to the Delegates of Members, the OIE Reference Laboratories and Collaborating Centres and international and regional organisations, but also, by subscription, to any institutions or individuals interested in receiving such information directly.

The OIE has recently added a new function to the OIE-Info distribution list to better address subscribers' specific needs. They can now elect to receive information only on the types of animals and diseases of interest. This is intended to reduce the number of unnecessary e-mails that subscribers receive. Subscribers can select from among the following categories: mammals; birds; bees; aquatic animals; zoonotic diseases; and diseases that might affect wild species.

When alerts are disseminated, subscribers will only receive those relating to the categories they have selected.

In addition to receiving alerts by e-mail, RSS feeds for Immediate Notifications and/or Follow-up Reports have been made available for interested OIE-Info distribution list subscribers. Follow-up reports are not distributed by e-mail.

After having informed the OIE of a significant epidemiological event by means of an immediate notification report, the Member must send weekly Follow-up Reports so that the event can be monitored as it evolves. In all cases, the country must submit a final report to notify either that the event has been resolved or that the disease has become endemic. In the latter case, the country will continue to submit information in its six-monthly reports if the disease is on the OIE List.

Animal Health Information for 2005 and thereafter is accessible form the new WAHID (World Animal Health Information Database) interface.

- Six-monthly Reports provide information on the presence or absence of diseases on the OIE List and the prevention and control measures applied. In 2009, a new possibility has been added to differentiate, when relevant, between domestic and wild species using different occurrence codes. This change is an important step forward to improve transparency and the knowledge of the animal health situation worldwide in domestic and wild species, without necessarily putting unjustified trade barriers against countries notifying diseases in wild animals only For diseases reported as being present in a country/territory during a given six-month period, the country/territory in question must provide quantitative data on the number of outbreaks, susceptible animals, cases, deaths, animals destroyed and animals vaccinated. For diseases that are present and are notifiable in the country, the OIE recommends that countries provide quantitative data by month and by first administrative division. Countries/territories that so wish can enter their data in WAHIS each month during a given six-month period (i.e. without waiting until the end of the six-month period), thereby providing the international community with the most recent information on the diseases that are present and which Members consider are the most important.

In this respect, Members are given other options for entering information in WAHIS on diseases that are present: by month and for the whole country/erritory, by first administrative level and for the entire six-month period, and by first administrative level for the whole country/territory. The choice of one or other of these options will depend on the national surveillance and monitoring systems in the country/territory in question and the type of information generated by these systems. These choices made by Countries and Territories will be reflected in the way the WAHID interface is presented whenever a request for information is made.

- Lastly, the two six-monthly reports of a given year are combined as part of the annual report for OIE-listed diseases. This is complemented, once a year, by Members' submission of information on non OIE-listed diseases,, the impact of zoonoses on Humans, animal populations, the Veterinary Services personnel , national reference laboratories and their performed diagnostic tests, and, when appropriate, vaccine manufacturers and vaccine production.

The monthly and annual data supplied by Members on animal diseases and zoonoses prior to 2005 can be accessed in OIE database via the Web interface, Handistatus II.

A synthesis of annual data is also contained in a publication entitled World Animal Health, which also includes more detailed sanitary and general information.

As an adjunct to the World Animal Health Information (WAHIS) on-line reporting system, the data and information provided by Members are accessible via the Web interface WAHID (World Animal Health Information Database) and can be accessed by the public through the OIE Web site.

This unique new application is the cornerstone of the OIE's efforts to improve the transparency, efficacy and rapidity of the dissemination of animal health information throughout the world, by giving everyone easy access to all the available information on animal diseases, including zoonoses, presented by country/territory, by region, by month, by six-month period or by year. This interface gives access to a range of other information, including data on animal populations at a national or regional level, epidemiological maps of significant events, world distribution maps of animal diseases and control methods applied by disease, as well as tools to compare the animal health situation between countries. The latter application can help determine potential risks of trade in live animals or in animal products between Members.

A special section is devoted to the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) situation worldwide in response to the many requests for information on the subject received by the OIE.

To improve transparency, the OIE has set up, in consultation with the competent national authorities, a verification procedure for non-official information from various sources on the existence of disease outbreaks that have not yet been notified to the OIE.

In order to encourage OIE Members to share their experience in developing and implementing their national contingency plans, two pages are available to publish some national contingency plans and disease introduction simulation exercises provided by OIE Members.

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Last update : 04-Jan-2010