Simulation exercise: African swine fever in Italy

29 and 30 November

Prof. Romano Marabelli, Chief Veterinary Officer, Secretary General of the Italian Ministry of Health, hereby informs the OIE that a field simulation exercise on African Swine Fever (ASF) named “ASFermo”, will take place on 29 and 30 November 2016 in Italy.

The exercise will include field visits to farms in the region Marche, province of Fermo and disease control centres will be set up.

The overall aim of this exercise, which will be conducted in conjunction with the regional and local veterinary services and national reference laboratory for swine fcvers, is to assess and check the preparedness and contingency planning, focusing on the early detection of an African swine fever suspicion case in the continental territory of the country, taking into account the current presence of the disease on the island of Sardinia, with a view to detecting critical points and identifying improvements in the plan, instructions, structures and procedures.

The objectives of the simulation exercise are to:

  1.  demonstrate that the Authorities are taking the threat of African swine fever seriously and that  have effective policies and contingency plan in place to early detect the introduction of disease,
  2. exercise the integration and interaction between the strategic and tactical levels within Ministry of Health, the Regional and Local veterinary services and the National Reference Laboratory to demonstrate the joined up response to a suspicion of ASF,
  3. exercise the multi services response to a suspicion of ASF, as one of the highest contagious disease, the chain of command to have high levels of alert proportionate to the threats and losses in case of introduction of the disease in the free territory.


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World Animal Health Information and Analysis Department
World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE)
[email protected]
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