Local Disease (Animal) Control Centres

office of the CVO. The epidemiology unit should either be attached to the NDCC or should work in close collaboration with it. The CVO may delegate day-to-day responsibilities for implementing agreed policy to the head of the Centre, who would most likely also be the Director of Field Veterinary Services. The NDCC also should have an experienced communications officer who serves as an advisor to the CVO in relation to media and public information and may be designated as spokesperson for the event.

The responsibilities of the NDCC in the emergency response would include: • implementing the disease-control policies decided by the CVO and the Consultative Committee on Emergency Animal Diseases (CCEAD); • directing and monitoring the operations of LDCCS; • deployment of staff and other resources to the local centres; • ordering and dispersing vaccines and other essential supplies; • monitoring the progress of the campaign and providing technical advice to the CVO; • advising the CVO on the definition and proclamation of the various disease-control zones; • liaising with other groups involved in the emergency response, including those that may be activated as part of the national disaster plan; • preparing international disease reports and, at the appropriate times, cases for recognition of zonal or national freedom from the disease; • managing farmer awareness and general publicity programmes, including press releases; • conducting general and financial administration, including the keeping of records.

The NDCC should be fully equipped with meeting rooms, a range of maps covering all parts of the country (preferably at 1:50,000), and all suitable communication equipment for liaising with LDCCs, veterinary laboratories, etc. by telephone, radio, e-mail and facsimile, as appropriate. The Centre should also be linked with the management information system previously described in this manual.

local (anImal) dIsease control centres

During an emergency, one or more LDCCs should be set up within easy reach of, and preferably within, the infected zones of the disease outbreak. If at all possible, they should be sited such that teams are able to travel to and from any site that they need to for surveillance or any other disease-control activities on the same day. In some circumstances, where distances are not great, these LDCCs could be established on a permanent basis in a regional or district veterinary or agricultural office. Otherwise, possible locations for temporary LDCCs (e.g. local government offices) should be identified and negotiated in advance.

The LDCC should be fully equipped with: • offices; • meeting rooms; • maps of the local area (consider 1:50,000 and 1:10,000 scale); • map preparation facilities enabling disease development to be recorded and displayed; • communication equipment to contact field personnel and the NDCC; • vehicles; and • fully stocked central stores.

Cold storage facilities for vaccines should also be located at or within easy access of the LDCC. It should also have simple equipment that will allow it to process and dispatch diagnostic specimens, including serum samples. The LDCC should designate a “clean” area for personnel not going to the field, and a “dirty” area for personnel who have visited potentially contaminated sites.

Each LDCC should be under the control of a senior, experienced field veterinary officer. He or she should be given the responsibility (i.e. delegated authority) for directing the emergency disease-control and eradication programme within the area, under the general supervision of the NDCC and the CVO. All staff allocated to an LDCC for the period of the disease emergency should be under his or her command for the duration of their attachment. The officer-in-charge of the LDCC should be given the authority to: • designate a farm, herd or community as an infected premises (after consultation with, and the agreement of the NDCC, if that is considered necessary); • designate dangerous contact premises using agreed guidelines for veterinary risk assessment; • quarantine infected and dangerous contact premises; • send surveillance teams to any place where there are susceptible species of livestock; • deploy the necessary staff to infected premises to arrange valuation, slaughter and safe disposal of animals, and cleansing and disinfection; • advise on the delineation of infected, surveillance and control zones, and on the measures to be taken in them; • impose livestock movement restrictions; • suspend the operations of, or place biosecurity restrictions on, livestock markets, abattoirs and other risk enterprises; • designate selected slaughterhouses for sanitary slaughter of animals from affected farms, municipalities or regions, if such slaughter is conditionally sanctioned; • organize and implement vaccination programmes; • carry out insect vector control programmes, if necessary; • liaise with police and other authorities over the maintenance of disease-control restrictions; • liaise with local wildlife authorities; and • carry out local publicity campaigns using agreed messages, including sending messages to the media and to stakeholders.

The LDCC should be allocated sufficient staff to carry out these functions properly. Each major area of field activity should be under the control of an experienced veterinary officer. The LDCC should also have veterinary epidemiologist(s), who can provide specialized advice to the officer-in-charge and be responsible for disease reporting and the emergency disease information system.

Depending on what disease-control strategy is chosen, there will be a need for disease surveillance teams, vaccination teams, quarantine and livestock movement control staff, valuers, infected premises teams (livestock slaughter, disposal, cleansing and disinfection), administrative staff (stores and general administration), and a public relations/education officer.