Definition of Veterinary Quarantine

Dr. Sabah Hussein Alwan

Veterinary quarantine is a highly complex process, and in the first place, information must be provided about diseases or disease vectors such as insects or parasites that may cause their entry into the country to bring the disease with them, so that specialists can develop plans to repel and control them. The procedures and practices imposed for the purpose of controlling a particular disease differ based on many points, including:

• Nature of the disease.
• Type of pathogen (virus, bacteria, rickettsia, parasite, mycoplasma, etc.)
• Virulence of the pathogen.
• Is it already present in the country or not.
• Is the strain of the pathogen new.
• What is the type of vector of the disease.
• What is the speed and nature of its transmission.
• The distance it travels in its transmission.
• Areas of its spread in distant or nearby countries.
• The nature of the borders between countries.
• The presence of natural borders and their spread from rivers, mountains or lakes.
• The type of measures taken by the country in which the disease appeared.
• Is it aware of the infection or not.
• Available historical information about the disease.
• The volume of trade with that country.
• The nature of the materials that transmit the infection, live animals, products, parasites, etc.
• Methods of transportation (land or sea).
• Strategies used in the world to control diseases. To determine the appropriate strategy.
• The amount of financial support available.
• The nature and efficiency of existing laboratories.
• Is there a vaccine for the disease or not.
• The speed of contacting international organizations and knowing the infection and its location.
• The nature of the laws available in the country and the powers that health authorities have to use to prevent the spread of the disease.
• The nature of infection monitoring programs in the country.
• Reporting programs and the accuracy of their implementation and the nature of contributions and participation in them.

And other complex requirements that must be taken into account in order to clarify the importance of veterinary quarantine and clarify the nature of its application procedures.

Veterinary quarantine can be defined as a set of legal, administrative and technical procedures that must be applied to animals and their products that are to be imported or exported for the purpose of controlling diseases. It is an important science that must be built and educated in it continuously and accurately.

Veterinary quarantine is a solid and important line of defense against imported and cross-border diseases. Therefore, international organizations have been interested in defining, explaining and clarifying many programs, plans and procedures that are part of the science of veterinary quarantine. The most important of these organizations is the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), which was founded in 1924 in Paris.

The task of developing laws, instructions, programs and means of communication between the quarantines spread with the national center, and making sound decisions that are far from monopoly, individualism and irresponsibility, and adopting accurate follow-up programs and implementing transparency of procedures in veterinary quarantine in any country is an important measure of the extent of development of that country.