Caribbean Alert System

Caribbean Alert System

The Caribbean is a complex region were Caribbean countries and territories have various trade partners including the US, Canada, Europe,South and Central America, and Asia. Additionally, the Caribbean is situated along migratory birds' flyways where birds can disseminate pathogens along their routes southwards or northwards. 
This makes the Caribbean region particularly vulnerable to animal and zoonotic disease emergence and spread, especially affecting main stock breeding industries in the Caribbean.

Objective

The objective of the Alert System is to provide CaribVET with information on potential risks that priority exotic disease or new or emerging disease outbreaks worldwide represent for the region, taking into consideration real-time evolution. The aim is to help decision regionally on when to activate the network in order to prepare and prevent disease introduction.
The tool doesn’t intend to provide formal evaluation of risks which will need to be undertaken by the veterinary authority of the country, if needs be.

Rationale

CaribVET aims to improve disease surveillance and enhance preparedness, early alert and early response in the Caribbean. However, the region doesn’t have a formal animal health monitoring system in place and there is no tool tailored to the Caribbean to guide regional interventions such as activation of expert groups, dissemination of recommendations, awareness materials as well as other relevant CaribVET product/information/notes and implementation of series of trainings or workshop etc. The need for such a tool has become increasingly needed both at the national and the regional level as intervention implies human and funding resources mobilization. 

Pilot tool using Highly Pathogenic Avian influenza as a disease model

Since 2015, the region is at high risk of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) strains introduction from North America, where HPAI emerged early 2015. This threat is considered important in the Caribbean, as poultry production is the most rapidly growing subsector, and some countries have the capacity to be self-sustaining in poultry meat production. Pathogens may be introduced by migratory birds or via import of infected live birds.
An alert system was created based on the new epidemic intelligence tools under development at CIRAD (Padi-Web “Plateforme pour la detection automatique de l’information sanitaire sur le web) within the frame of international health monitoring of animal diseases (VSI). PADI-web data provide the user (epidemiologists) with “real time” epidemiologic information and alerting about the events declared via the PADI-web system.
HPAI was used as a disease model as it is a major threat for the poultry industry and food security in the Caribbean region