NEWS

Farewell to Mark Rweyemamu

Dr Samuel Jutzi, Director of the FAO Animal Health and Production Division, joined colleagues and friends in wishing Dr Mark Rweyemamu well in his future engagements, after a meritorious service with the Organization. The Director's thank-you message was delivered during a farewell party organized last December in honour of Dr Rweyemamu, who retired from FAO as Senior Officer, Infectious Diseases Group-EMPRES. He recalled Rweyemamu's pioneer role in the realization of the EMPRES idea - developing and building the EMPRES concept into the institution it has become today - and for bringing EMPRES onto the centre stage of FAO activities.

Dr Mark Rweyemamu and his wife, Francisca, receiving
the EMPRES medal from the Director during the farewell party
Photo Courtesy OF Ledi Pite/ EMPRES

A brief profile of Dr Mark Rweyemamu

Tanzanian-born Dr Mark Rweyemamu, a one-time university lecturer, started his long rewarding career in 1969, first as a Virologist at the Central Veterinary Laboratory, Temeke, Dar es Salaam, and later as Chief Research Officer, coordinating research in livestock production and health. During this period he also represented the Tanzanian Government on various occasions. He then became Head of the Virus Diseases Division of the East African Research Organization based in Nairobi, Kenya, followed by employment with the London-based Wellcome Foundation. During his career at the Wellcome Foundation, Dr Rweyemamu was Senior Scientist, Deputy Head and Head of its FMD Research and Quality Assurance Department, positions that offered him the opportunity of a stake in the strategic planning and evaluation of biotechnology in future vaccine technologies. During this period, he coordinated Wellcome's FMD vaccine research and development programme at Pirbright, UK, and was also involved in the vaccine trial runs at laboratories in a number of countries including Argentina, Brazil, Germany and Kenya. From 1983 to 1989, he worked for Pfizer Inc., Brazil, on the evaluation of biotechnology claims, and was responsible for the research programme on vaccines.

While at FAO, he has been involved in livestock policy issues and activities at EMPRES including:

• conceptualization of the EMPRES programme;
• strengthening of GREP activities;
• development of TADinfo, the GIS-based disease support software, and multimedia programmes for Good Emergency Management Practices in animal health.

He holds a Bachelor of Veterinary Science and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Bristol, United Kingdom, with over 90 scientific papers to his credit, and has held many international appointments, including as a member of the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy Team in the Horn of Africa in 2000.

The EMPRES Bulletin editor and the entire staff of the FAO EMPRES group thank Dr Rweyemamu and wish him well in his future undertakings.

A new look for the EMPRES Web site

The EMPRES Web site is an essential point of contact and link for up-to-date information on TADs. It is a service tool designed specifically to pursue the further improvement of animal health through enhancing the surveillance and control of major TADs. The home page has now been enriched with a new design; there are more subject-pages and related links, offering users more navigation options. Comments and suggestions from users are most welcome. EMPRES URL: www.fao.org/ag/AGA/AGAH/EMPRES/index.htm

In brief...

Since the last edition of the EMPRES Bulletin (No. 20/1-2002), there have been confirmed occurrences of the following livestock diseases around the globe as reported by the OIE and highlighted by the EMPRES early warning messages:

• Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), otherwise known as "mad cow disease", was confirmed through laboratory test in Malopolska ("Little Poland"), southern Province of Poland on 2 May 2002 and on a dairy farm in Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan, on 13 May. On 4 June, the disease was also confirmed in a farm establishment in Israel. These outbreaks represent the first occurrences of the disease in Poland and Israel, and the fourth in Japan.
• A suspected case of Newcastle disease in a poultry layer farm in Australia's Western Victoria Province was reported on 10 May 2002 by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (AFFA) and sample tests conducted were positive. In June, outbreaks of the disease in Japan (Kagawa Prefecture) and in Venezuela (Zulia State) were announced by their respective veterinary authorities.
• On 7 May, the Spanish authorities confirmed an outbreak of classical swine fever (CSF) in a pig holding in Cataluña. On 15 and 16 May, the disease was also reported on small, fattening pig farms in Bulgaria, representing the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth CSF outbreaks in the country since the end of March. The disease was also reported in Slovenia and France on 11 March and 29 April 2002, respectively, and in Croatia, Luxembourg and Costa Rica in June.
• On 7 May, a suspected case of FMD was detected in Zambia (Mbala district) and, on 21 May, 69 new suspected cases were reported in the same area, as announced by the country's veterinary authorities. (Editor's note: At the time of this publication, confirmatory results were not available.)
• On 4 May 2002, two outbreaks of FMD were confirmed in the Republic of Korea. The virus type was FMD virus type O1 (Pan-Asian topotype).

Full reports can be obtained from the OIE Web site: ww.oie.int/