ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF (PhD) · India · NTA for ICAR
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersHow national Veterinary Services work: notifiable-disease reporting, quarantine and movement control, certification, import risk analysis, WTO-SPS and WOAH Codes, and emergency disease response.
In the exams: SAVC Paper 4 State veterinary medicine 35 (its largest single section); WOAH Day 1 advanced competences; Korea veterinary law and animal husbandry 20
How our questions for ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF spread across the units of Regulatory and State Veterinary Medicine & International Trade. Difficulty: 6 easy, 35 medium, 19 hard.
| Import risk analysis | 15 | |
| The WTO SPS Agreement | 9 | |
| WOAH Terrestrial and Aquatic Codes | 9 | |
| Notifiable disease reporting | 5 | |
| Movement control | 5 | |
| Emergency disease response: culling, compensation and ring vaccination | 5 | |
| Veterinary certification | 4 | |
| Organisation of Veterinary Services (WOAH PVS) | 3 | |
| National disease control and eradication programmes | 3 | |
| Quarantine | 2 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
What is the main purpose of the PVS-IHR National Bridging Workshops in the WOAH PVS Pathway?
A. To improve collaboration between animal-health services and public-health services working under the International Health Regulations
The workshops use the PVS Pathway and the WHO's International Health Regulations monitoring tools together, so that veterinary and human-health services plan joint work on zoonoses and health emergencies. Voting rights do not depend on PVS scores, and the workshops are not about carriers or private investment.
Further reading: WOAH and WHO, PVS-IHR National Bridging Workshop documentation
After an immediate notification to WOAH, how often are follow-up reports normally sent until the event is resolved or becomes stable?
B. Weekly
Follow-up reports are normally weekly. Once the disease is eradicated, or becomes stable endemic, it is reported in the six-monthly reports; those are not the follow-up interval for an active event.
Further reading: WOAH Terrestrial Animal Health Code, Chapter 1.1
In the WOAH Code, how does a compartment differ from a zone?
A. A compartment is defined mainly by a common biosecurity management system; a zone is defined mainly by geography
A zone is a defined part of a territory separated by geography, barriers and movement control; a compartment is a subpopulation in one or more establishments under common biosecurity management, which suits integrated poultry or pig companies. Size, species and infection status do not define the difference.
Further reading: WOAH Terrestrial Animal Health Code, zoning and compartmentalisation
Cattle from an infected area are moved to a farm in a free area, held briefly, then exported with certificates showing the free farm as origin. What is this practice called and why does it matter beyond the single shipment?
B. Laundering of animals; it undermines trust in all the country's certificates and risks closing export markets
Passing animals through a free area to hide their true origin is certification fraud (laundering). When discovered, importers may reject all certificates from that country. Regionalisation, compartments and pre-export quarantine all depend on true origin and cannot be created by a brief stay.
Further reading: WOAH certification principles
A Veterinary Service must show freedom from a disease in a large population. Assuming a perfect test, a design prevalence of 5% and 95% confidence, how many animals must be sampled at random? (Use n = ln(1 − C)/ln(1 − P).)
D. 59
n = ln(0.05)/ln(0.95) = −2.996/−0.0513 = 58.4, rounded up to 59. Rounding down to 58 gives less than 95% confidence; 20 is 1/0.05; 95 confuses the confidence level with sample size.
Further reading: Thrusfield, Veterinary Epidemiology; Cannon and Roe
Before export, each animal is tested with two independent tests, of sensitivity 0.90 and 0.80, and is rejected if positive on either. What is the probability that an infected animal passes both tests and is exported?
D. 0.02
Rejected if positive to either (parallel interpretation), so an infected animal escapes only if both tests miss it: (1 − 0.90) × (1 − 0.80) = 0.1 × 0.2 = 0.02. 0.72 is the series sensitivity, 0.28 is the miss rate under series interpretation, and 0.10 is the miss rate of the first test alone.
Further reading: Thrusfield, Veterinary Epidemiology
Under Article 3 of the SPS Agreement, what is the legal effect of a measure that conforms to a relevant international standard?
A. It is presumed to be consistent with the SPS Agreement and the GATT 1994
Article 3.2 gives measures that conform to international standards a presumption of consistency, which is the main legal reason to follow WOAH standards. The SPS Committee does not approve measures, standing to challenge is not limited this way, and WOAH does not review national measures annually.
Further reading: WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, Article 3
An exporting country uses a different method of meat inspection from the importer but shows objectively that it achieves the importer's level of protection. Which SPS principle requires the importer to accept it?
D. Equivalence
Article 4 (equivalence) obliges the importer to accept different measures that objectively achieve its appropriate level of protection. Harmonisation is about basing measures on international standards, transparency about notification, and consistency (Art. 5.5) about avoiding arbitrary differences in protection levels.
Further reading: WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, Article 4
Which WOAH specialist commission assesses Members' applications for official disease status?
C. Scientific Commission for Animal Diseases
The Scientific Commission for Animal Diseases evaluates dossiers and recommends status to the World Assembly. The Biological Standards Commission oversees the Terrestrial Manual and laboratories; the two Standards Commissions draft the Codes.
Further reading: WOAH Basic Texts
Which groups of animals are covered by the WOAH Aquatic Animal Health Code?
B. Amphibians, crustaceans, fish and molluscs
The Aquatic Code covers amphibians, crustaceans, fish and molluscs. Aquatic birds and marine mammals fall under the Terrestrial Code, and reptiles and seabirds are not Aquatic Code groups.
Further reading: WOAH Aquatic Animal Health Code
Ten here, 60 in the app. The Laisha app has every practice question we have written to ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF in this subject, marked as you go, with timed papers, a jump-to-unanswered list and a certificate when you pass at 70 per cent.
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