Rapports, Archives: 33rd session - Appendix 13

 

FMD control in CIS countries

 

1. Introduction

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) remains an important disease worldwide. This disease is endemic in Anatolia (types O and A).

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Situation in Caucasia

Livestock population in Caucassian region.

 

Cattle

Sheep / Goats

Swine

Armenia

600,000

850,000

150,000

Azerbadjan

2,000,000

5,200,000

21,000

Georgia

930,000

1,045,000

-

Total

3,530,000

7,095,000

171,000

FMD outbreaks in Caucasia in the last three years.
Click here for the table.

 

Armenia

FMD occurred in 1996, 1997 and 1998 in Armenia. For the last three years, FMD has been detected in 589 animals, 12 of them were slaughtered. Economic looses due to disease outbreaks is estimated to 1.1 million US dollars.

The reasons for this unfavourable situation are:

  • the movements of susceptible animals from one pasture to another within the territory of Armenia.

  • the only partial vaccination of the livestock due to the lack of funds to buy vaccine.

830,952 heads of cattle and 73,372 sheep were vaccinated in 1997.

FMD cases due to the new type A variant were detected in August 1998 in Amasiia district in the North West region very near to the borders with Turkey and Georgia. Cases occurred in 21 heads of cattle grazing in a common a pasture area.

 

Azerbaidjaian

The last outbreaks of FMD took place along the Iran border in February (2 outbreaks) and July (1 outbreak) 1996. 134 heads of cattle and 184 heads of sheep and goats were infected by the O type . None died or were slaughtered. The previous outbreak was in 1994.

1,274,031 heads of cattle and 3,174,633 heads of small ruminant were vaccinated in 1997.

 

Georgia

For the last five years situation of FMD is as follows.

In 1994 no FMD was observed. The previous outbreak was in 1993.

In 1995 a single FMD outbreak occurred in a 22 heads of cattle herd in one previously uninfected area. The disease was eradicated in its primary location.

In July 1996 FMD was identified in summer pastures of Khuloysky region and Adzhaskaya autonomous republic. Type O was identified. Due to the lack of funds, no vaccination could be carried out, thus FMD spread to other territories of the country between July and December. 9071 heads of cattle were infected in 21 previously uninfected areas (outbreak). No case was observed in sheep and swine.

In 1997 FMD occurred in 35 areas (outbreaks) where 19909 heads of cattle, 2379 small ruminants and 538 pigs were infected. No mortality was registered

No FMD outbreak occurred between October 1997 and October 1998 when FMD was identified in Akhalathsky and Akhaltsithsky regions bordering Turkey. Later disease spread to Tsalksky region. One outbreak occurred in each of the region and only few animals were infected. Material was sent to Vladimir OIE Reference Laboratory for virus isolation and serotyping. Result is still pending.

Due to the extension of the limits of Europe, its security on the eastern frontier should be reconsidered. The number of trading partners of European countries has also been increased

Five FMD outbreaks due to type O were reported in four regions of Kazakhstan between April and September 1998 and 3 outbreaks also due to type O in Tchoui region, Kant district affecting cattle, sheep, goat and pigs again in October 1998.

 

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Conclusions and recommendations of the Expert Missions to Caucasia and to ARRIAH, Vladimir

I - OIE/EuFMD/EC Mission to ARRIAH, Vladimir, Russia, 20 - 26 March 1999

 

Conclusions

 

  • According to the information provided by the Russian Federation, the implementation of the FMD buffer zone in the Southern part of the Russian Federation is effective. It has prevented the introduction of FMD, despite the unfavourable situation in neighbouring countries. However, the campaign of prophylactic vaccination was inconsistent, with regard to regularity, coverage and geographical implementation in the other Trans-Caucasian countries. Many animals are therefore still susceptible to FMDV, making the risk of intrusion very high.

  • The expert group believes that the ARRIAH has the capabilities and the expertise, if requested by the countries in this area, to organise surveillance of FMD in this region. The staff members are very motivated and have a good knowledge about the disease and the epizootiological situation in the field. They have the laboratory expertise and infrastructure to test large amounts of samples when requested. No official sampling, however, of animals in the areas of concern is currently being performed.

  • The production plant in Vladimir is currently working at one third of its capacity. The manufacturing capacity is therefore more than adequate to meet the needs of the CIS countries. In the Moscow region, there is also a second plant capable of producing FMD vaccine by the Frenkel system. These are the only two ‘licensed’ plants in the Russian Federation.

  • The final product testing of the vaccine is more or less in compliance with the monograph on FMD vaccine production in the European Pharmacopoeia. The experts believe that the vaccine is safe with regard to virus inactivation and local side effects, and more potent (³ 6 PD50) than that prescribed in the European Pharmacopoeia (3 PD50). As far as could be observed, sterility testing is in complete compliance with the European Pharmacopoeia.

  • The process of production, however, is not in complete compliance with good manufacturing practice.

  • The Machinery and techniques used are fairly outdated.

  • At the moment the priority is the supply of FMD vaccine to the Trans-Caucasian region. However, the expert group believe that in the future the establishment of an antigen bank would be beneficial if ARRIAH is required to meet any urgent demands from any of the FMD free CIS countries or to supplement the buffer zone.

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Recommendations

 

  • The FMD buffer zone should be maintained in the Russian Federation and extended to the Trans-Caucasian countries. In 4 - 5 years, if the buffer zone is shown to be effective in the Trans-Caucasian regions, this might lead to a substantial reduction in the vaccination campaign required for the Northern part of the zone.

  • The vaccination coverage of the animal population should be higher and in the Southern part it should include all susceptible species.

  • The local veterinary authorities should enforce practical identification of the vaccinated animals.

  • It is the opinion of the experts that a more formal and a better-structured system of supplying samples and information from the whole Trans-Caucasian region should be implemented. Thus, diagnostic material from outbreaks and sera from vaccinated animals would be sent without delay to the Vladimir institute. The system of delivery and disclosure of epidemiological information collected in the field would also be greatly improved.

  • The Russian Veterinary authorities should urgently consider improving the FMD vaccine production facilities so that they can fully meet the requirements of GMP.

  • The formation of an antigen bank for CIS countries that are free of FMD should be encouraged. The type and amount of antigen in the antigen bank should be discussed by the contributing countries.

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II - OIE/EuFMD/EC/ARRIAH Mission to Caucasia (Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan)

 

Conclusions

  1. The outcome of the mission has been very productive thanks to the strong commitment and openness of the CVO's and of the Veterinary staff in the three countries.
  2. The three countries share many common characteristics:
    • Their whole economies were badly hit by the collapse of the former Soviet Union,
    • Their political stability has been put at risk by the subsequent local wars.
    • This has had repercussions on the veterinary services and on foot-and- mouth disease (FMD) control.
  3. Each country has its own peculiarities and sometimes very strong geographical, cultural and other specificities.The veterinary infrastructure in the three countries is organized around a central veterinary service, with a national veterinary diagnosis laboratory, a national veterinary research institute and a national control institute to support the scientific missions of the veterinary services.
  4. The local veterinary network is still in place in the three countries. District veterinary officers, local veterinarians (all or nearly all are still state personnel), local and regional veterinary diagnosis laboratories, are in place, although they have very little means, or no means at all, to work. A reduction in numbers of Veterinary staff of some of these structures is quite probable during the current privatisation process.
  5. The annual national herd vaccination campaigns against FMD that were carried out at the time of the Soviet Union stopped after independence, due to the lack of resources.
  6. Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan are the South-Eastern gates of Europe. The region is today at risk of becoming endemically infected with FMD if nothing is done rapidly to prevent this. This risk concerns both Russia to the North and Europe to the West, as the disease may spread directly or indirectly (through trade).
  7. The present veterinary network in the three countries is a good organization on which to rely upon to efficiently carry out FMD vaccination campaigns.

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Recommendations

 

Short term

  • 1. Vaccination is only part of a global protection scheme against FMD. At the same time, surveillance and reporting of FMD should be reinforced in the region under the co-ordination of the OIE Regional laboratory for FMD, ARRIAH, Vladimir.
  • 2. An emergency vaccination campaign covering all ruminants along the southern border zones of the three countries, i.e. along borders with Iran and Turkey is recommended.
  • 3. Animals should be vaccinated in April, before they leave for summer pastures.
  • 4. Part of the cost for this vaccination campaign should be covered though the FAO/EC Trust Fund as recommended by the 62nd Session of the EuFMD Executive Committee. The three countries as well as Russia, should support the vaccination of the remaining animals.
  • 5. The first priority is to vaccinate animals in the border districts and within these districts, to start with animals known to move to border pasture areas. The local veterinarians know this situation quite well and know which herds to vaccinate and how best to vaccinate them.
  • 6. The FMD vaccine (bivalent A-1998 Armenian strain, O1) is to be sent directly from the Vladimir Institute to the three CVOs, without any intermediate, in a ready to use form.
  • 7. Ring vaccination and control of animal movements around outbreaks should be reinforced.
  • 8. Animals vaccinated should be marked (by ear notching or hair shaving). To identify animals by ear tagging is premature and not recommended at this stage.
  • 9. Random sampling of about 500 sera in each country (cattle and small ruminants) , carried out at the moment of vaccination and again when they return from Summer pastures is recommended to assess the efficiency of vaccination under field conditions.
  • 10. Monitoring of animal movements between their Winter villages and Summer camps is to be carried out by the local veterinarians, under the control of DVO's, for the CVO.
  • 11. The international notification of FMD should be encouraged, as the consequences of early reporting are positive for other countries in the region.

Medium and Long term

 

  • 12. A regional approach to the prevention and control of FMD involving Georgia, Armenia Azerbaijan and Russia is strongly advocated. Ideally Iran and Turkey should also be associated with this regional co-ordination.
  • 13. The countries in the region should develop or validate an up-to-date contingency plan against FMD.
  • 14. Veterinary legislation, as a whole, is also to be enacted and implemented. This will certainly be aided by an improvement of the whole economy and the political stability of these countries. The importance of FMD for these countries should be remembered, as it may have heavy economical consequences. This fact could help CVOs in implementing the veterinary legislation.
  • 15. All staff of the national veterinary diagnosis laboratories should participate in a special training session on FMD diagnosis. ARRIAH, Vladimir should organise this training.
  • 16. It should be checked by ARRIAH - in co-operation with the WRL or with other European National laboratories - if the procedures and the reagents used for FMD diagnosis in the National laboratories of the Caucasian countries are still valid. Standardized (OIE) procedures should be used in the laboratories of the region under the co-ordination of ARRIAH.
  • 17. The veterinary services staff should be trained in Epidemiology to better utilise the data collected at the local, regional and national levels. This could also help in proposing specific programmes against other infectious diseases and assure that the tools and capacities needed for their control are present and adequate (rabies in Georgia or tuberculosis and Brucellosis in the three countries).
  • 18. A good network for the exchange of information between the countries and with International organisations or with other national veterinary services should be developed (E-mail and/or post).

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