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RELEVANT DEFINITIONS FROM THE OIE AQUATIC ANIMAL HEALTH CODE[1]


Term

OIE Aquatic Animal Health Code.

Aquatic Manual

means the Manual of Diagnostic Tests for Aquatic Animals.

Competent Authority

means the National Veterinary Services, or other Authority of a Member Country, having the responsibility and competence for ensuring or supervising the implementation of the aquatic animal health measures recommended in this Aquatic Code.

Diagnosis

means determination of the nature of a disease. (see also “Diagnosis” under Additional Definitions Relevant To National Surveillance Programmes For Disease Control, below)

Disease

means clinical or nonclinical infection with one or more of the aetiological agents of the diseases listed in this Aquatic Code.

Disease agent[2]

means an organism that causes or contributes to the development of a disease listed in this Aquatic Code.

Diseases listed by the OIE

means diseases that fulfil the criteria outlined in Chapter 1.1.2 of this Aquatic Code. (Chapter 1.1.2 - http://www.oie.int/eng/normes/fcode/A_00004.htm)
Note: change to single listing for both Notifiable and Other Significant Diseases in 2003 6th edition of the Code and 4th edition of the Manual.

Disease outbreak

means an occurrence of disease in an aquatic animal population.

Emerging disease

means a newly recognised serious disease, the cause of which may or may not yet be established, that has the potential to be spread within and between populations, for example by way of trade in aquatic animals and/or aquatic animal products.

Imported outbreak

means a disease outbreak introduced into a territory from another country.

Incidence

means the number of new outbreaks of disease within a specified period of time in a defined aquatic animal population.

Infected zone

means a clearly defined zone in which a disease of aquatic animals included in this Aquatic Code has been diagnosed. This area must be clearly defined and decreed by the Competent Authority in accordance with the environment, the different ecological and geographical factors, the epidemiological factors and the type of aquacultural activity being practised.
Within and at the border of an infected zone, there must be official veterinary control of aquatic animals and aquatic animal products, their transportation and slaughtering.
The time during which the infected zone designation remains in effect will vary according to the disease and to the sanitary measures and control methods applied.

International trade

means import, export or transit of aquatic animals, aquatic animal products, biological products and pathological material.

Laboratory

means a laboratory of high technical competence under direct supervision of a veterinarian or other person with competent biological training. Through quality controls and monitoring performance, the Competent Authority approves such a laboratory in regard to testing requirements for export.

Prevalence

means the total number of infected aquatic animals expressed as a percentage of the total number of aquatic animals in a given aquatic animal population at one specific time.

Risk

means the probability of an adverse event of aquatic animal health, public health or economic importance, such as a disease outbreak, and the magnitude of that event.

Risk assessment

means the processes of identifying and estimating the risks associated with the importation of a commodity and evaluating the consequences of taking those risks.

Risk communication

means the processes of communicating the risk assessment results to the regulators of the import programmes, and to other interested parties, such as industry and the public.

Risk management

means the identification, documentation and implementation of the measures that can be applied to reduce risks and their consequences.

Susceptible species

means aquatic animals that are capable of being infected by a given disease agent.

Surveillance

means a systematic series of investigations of a given population of aquatic animals to detect the occurrence of disease for control purposes, and which may involve testing samples of a population.

Surveillance zone

means a zone in which a systematic series of investigations of a given population of aquatic animals takes place.

Targeted surveillance

means surveillance targeted at a specific disease or infection.

Zone

means a portion of one or more countries comprising an entire catchment area from the source of a waterway to the estuary, more than one catchment area, part of a catchment area from the source of a waterway to a barrier, or a part of the coastal area, or an estuary with a precise geographical delimitation, that consists of a homogeneous hydrological system.

Zoning

means identifying zones for disease control purposes.


[1] Italicized text refers to other definitions in the OIE Code. These may/may not be included in the list selected for this Consultation report.
[2] Disease is also caused by non-infectious agents or abiotic factors. However, for prevention of disease spread with live aquatic animal movements, the term ‘disease’ used in this report applies solely of those caused by infectious agents (infectious or contagious disease).

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