Surveillance for revocation of primary control zones

Surveillance is required for the revocation of a primary control zone (PCZ) and the related movement controls. It is also a critical element that will allow Canada to declare country freedom from highly pathogenic avian influenza according to the standards of the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH; founded as Office International des Épizooties (OIE)).

The cooperation of the poultry industry in completing surveillance so that a PCZ can be removed is essential.

Start of surveillance to revoke a PCZ

PCZ revocation surveillance activities can start as soon as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has confirmed the completion of primary decontamination of the infected premises (or the last infected premises if there is more than one infected premises). Primary decontamination includes the removal of contaminated materials and products and dry cleaning to remove visible organic material.

Surveillance in the PCZ is required for a minimum of 28 days after primary decontamination is complete. While it is a separate step, the PCZ surveillance period may overlap with the minimum of 14-day outbreak surveillance in the infected zone (3 km radius), and the 14 days of restrictions that remain on an infected premises that has completed its cleaning and disinfection. A PCZ can only be revoked when the specific surveillance requirements have been met.

Surveillance activities in a PCZ with commercial premises

PCZ revocation surveillance activities include:

• sick bird calls (SBC) and subsequent investigations in the PCZ for both commercial and non-commercial premises
• samples must be collected from randomly selected commercial premises with chickens and turkeys
• all commercial premises with ducks and/or geese must be tested

All commercial premises with ducks or geese will require testing as per the baseline outbreak surveillance protocol regardless of whether sick bird investigations or pre-movement testing activities have been performed or not. Test scheduling can start a maximum of 48 hours prior to the end of the 28-day PCZ surveillance period and may be extended over a longer period based on capacity. During this outbreak ducks and geese have displayed milder and no clinical signs of disease and, as a result, this testing is necessary to be confident active infection is no longer present.

Revocation of a PCZ after completion of surveillance

When all the surveillance requirements have been met, a revocation order for the PCZ will be issued. Once a PCZ has been revoked, normal poultry production activities within the former zone can resume. There may be ongoing international trade restrictions until Canada's freedom from avian influenza is recognized by its trading partners.