Following the devastating outbreak of FMD in the United Kingdom in 2001, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Office of Science and Technology jointly commissioned the Royal Society to carry out an independent scientific review of how to prevent and combat further incursions of highly infectious livestock diseases.
The Royal Society report was prepared by a committee of scientists, veterinarians, farmers and experts in consumer affairs. The committee issued a public call for evidence and received some 400 written submissions from individuals, the livestock industry and public and private sector organizations. Some of the main recommendations of the enquiry are summarized below.
General policy
Although disease-free status (without vaccination) with respect to FMD or other infectious diseases should remain the goal, this proviso could change if the risk of an outbreak occurring increased sharply, better vaccines became available or the trading regulations associated with disease-free status were further changed.
Emergency vaccination
Rapid culling of infected premises and known dangerous contacts, combined with movement control and rapid diagnosis, will remain essential to controlling FMD and most other highly infectious diseases. In many cases, this will not be sufficient to guarantee that the outbreak does not develop into an epidemic.
Until recently, the main problem over the use of emergency vaccination has been the difficulty of distinguishing animals that had been infected but then recovered from those that had simply been vaccinated. Important advances have been made within the last year, both technical and in the attitudes of the authorities and consumers, that should allow emergency vaccination to develop into a prime control strategy rather than one of last resort. Emergency vaccination should therefore be considered as part of the control strategy from the start of any outbreak of FMD.
Diagnostic methods
The first suspected case in an outbreak should be confirmed by an OIE-approved reference laboratory. Modern diagnostic methods, including penside tests, need to be developed that can shift the burden of diagnosis to veterinarians on the farm. Rapid diagnosis, particularly before clinical signs appear, would limit the size of any epidemic and improve the strategic deployment of resources.
Disease early warning
The threat of importing disease is rising with the globalization of trade and accrued movements of people, improvement of transport routes and climate change. To forestall and respond to the threat of importing disease, the United Kingdom must work with its international partners, both in Europe and more widely, to strengthen the present surveillance and early warning systems managed by OIE and FAO.
Early response and contingency planning
If the early warning system has failed to prevent the introduction of an exotic disease, the quality and the speed of implementation of a contingency plan become critical to prevent the disease developing into epizootic proportions. Such a plan should be subject to a practical rehearsal every year and should be formally reviewed every three years to ensure that it takes into account the latest information about the scale of international disease threats, changes in farming practice, scientific and technological developments, regulatory developments at national, EU and global levels, and the country's state of preparedness.
Source: information extracted from The Royal Society. 2002. Infectious diseases in livestock: summary and main recommendations. Policy document 19/02. July. The full report is available at:
http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/templates/searchwebsearch.cfm?mainpage=/inquiry/index.html
We regret to announce that Dr Alain Provost passed away on 24 November 2002. Dr Provost (1930-2002), who graduated from the National Veterinary School of Maisons-Alfort (France) in 1953, was an outstanding international veterinary scientist-expert on contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP), rinderpest and infectious transboundary animal diseases of livestock. Director of the Laboratory of Farcha (Chad) from 1969 to 1976, he became the General Director of IEMVT (Institut d'Elevage et de Médecine Vétérinaire des Pays Tropicaux) from 1977 to 1988, before the Institute became the EMVT Department of the International Cooperation Centre of Agricultural Research for Development (CIRAD).
Dr Yves Cheneau, Chief, FAO Animal Health Service, was quoted as saying: “Many of you will remember the humaneness and devotion of Alain, as well as the quality of his scientific background and achievements, which allowed him to chair or participate in many of the FAO expert consultations and missions. His outstanding contributions to GREP and CBPP will continue to guide us. The veterinary family has lost one of the most prominent of its members.”
Since the last EMPRES Bulletin (No. 21 - 2002), unexpected occurrences of ASF, FMD and Rift Valley fever have been reported in different regions around the world:
Ghana: ASF occurred in northeast Ghana in September 2002. The present outbreak is situated very close to the border with Togo, where ASF has previously been reported. Estimated deaths totalled over 7 000 head.
Uganda: Uganda is currently experiencing multiple outbreaks of ASF. The first outbreak was reported in late April 2002 in two districts of Kayunga and Masaka and has since spread rapidly to the districts of Kiboga, Kampala, Jinja, Soroti, Sembabule, Kalangala and Busia during July, August and September 2002. Quarantine has been imposed on the movement of pigs throughout the districts.
Paraguay (18 October 2002): FMD was detected in Paraguay in the region of Canindey, Corpus Christi district, located near the border of Brazil. More than 700 head of cattle were slaughtered. The Pan American Foot and Mouth Disease Centre informed OIE that the FMD disease virus type “O” was isolated from samples of bovine oesophageal-pharyngeal fluid collected in this region. A serological survey has been established in 14 farms covering a population of 40 000 head of cattle.
Venezuela (16 October 2002): An FMD outbreak was detected in Venezuela, Presidente Paez Parish, Alberto Adriani municipality, where 194 cases were identified among 680 susceptible cattle. The laboratory of the National Institute of Agricultural Veterinary Research confirmed the presence of virus type “A” from three epithelium samples collected from sick animals.
Mozambique (13 November 2002): Outbreaks were first detected in Calanga and Manzir districts. Viruses isolated are closely related to the ZIM/14/98 virus, which has been previously isolated from buffaloes in Lubangwua Island Kariba, Zimbabwe in 1998. The supposed source of infection seems to be animals originating from the region of Chicualacuala , located on the Mozambique-Zimbabwe border.
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Rift Valley fever was detected this year in the Gambia, Mauritania and Senegal. More information on these outbreaks will be available on the EMPRES Web site and in the next issue of the EMPRES Bulletin.
In late October, a suspicion of rinderpest in Laikipia, Kenya was notified to OIE. The results of laboratory diagnostic were all reported to be negative (for more information see page 2 of this Bulletin).
Detailed reports can be obtained from the OIE Web site: www.oie.int/
