Published Date: 2010-11-03 20:00:04
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Peste des petits ruminants - Southern Africa: FAO warning
Archive Number: 20101103.3988
PESTE DES PETITS RUMINANTS - SOUTHERN AFRICA: FAO WARNING
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Date: 2 Nov 2010
Source: FAO Press release [edited]
<http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/46292/icode/>
A deadly viral disease which broke out in Tanzania earlier this year
[2010] risks spreading to Southern Africa, posing a mortal threat to
more than 50 million sheep and goats in 15 countries, FAO warned
today [Tue 2 Nov 2010].
Known as Peste des Petits Ruminants (Small Ruminants' Plague), or
PPR, it is considered as the most destructive viral disease affecting
small ruminant flocks, on par with rinderpest in cattle in the past.
PPR may cause death rates of up to 100 percent in sheep and goats and
although it does not infect humans, it can cause enormous
socio-economic losses.
FAO issued the warning following a recent emergency mission to
Tanzania by the agency's Crisis Management Centre - Animal Health (CMC-AH).
The mission recommended that Tanzania initiate an emergency
vaccination programme around the disease outbreak site in the
northern half of the country and consider additional vaccination in
the area bordering Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia. It is important
also that the latter countries immediately step up vigilance and
engage in proactive surveillance.
If the disease is allowed to spread from Tanzania into the whole of
the 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC), it could
potentially devastate the livelihoods and food security of millions
of small herders and agro-pastoralists.
PPR broke out in Tanzania in early 2010, threatening a local
population of over 13.5 million goats and over 3.5 million sheep. It
occurs in Middle Eastern countries and parts of Central and South
Asia, while in Africa it has affected the western, eastern and
central parts of the continent. But so far, southern Africa has been spared.
Mission team leader Adama Diallo said the disease is easily
transmissible by direct contact between live animals in shared
pastures and at live animal markets. Diallo heads the Animal
Production and Health Laboratory of the joint FAO/International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) laboratory in Vienna, Austria.
To halt further spread of the disease, his team recommended targeted
vaccination of small ruminants based on critical control points and
routes used by pastoralists. But vaccination of small ruminants in a
wider area is required in southern Tanzania where this is
particularly relevant, as any virus here poses a risk to SADC as a
whole. The 1st priority is, therefore, to ensure that the virus
ceases circulating there.
For the northern half of the country, emergency vaccination around
outbreak sites would be important to halt the virus, and sheep and
goat keepers must not move their animals until allowed to do so by
the authorities, Diallo said.
FAO, he added, was available to help countries monitor the
availability of vaccine stocks for emergency vaccination, reinforce
laboratory capacity and strengthen active surveillance in the field.
It could also assist in enhancing awareness of the disease among
field veterinarians, their auxiliaries, pastoralists and traders.
Juan Lubroth, FAO's Chief Veterinary Officer, noted that: "Sheep and
goats are critical to food and income security for pastoral
communities. The presence of the disease directly affects a family's
wealth, hence the veterinary services of countries in the region must
review their preparedness plans, strengthen border control and
improve surveillance. We are at the disposal of SADC in times of
need. This may well be one of those times".
--
Communicated by:
T J Allen <tjallen@pipeline.com>
[Further information on PPR, particularly regarding diagnosis and
vaccines, is available at
<http://oie.int/eng/normes/mmanual/2008/pdf/2.07.11_PPR.pdf>. - Mod.AS]
See Also
Peste des petits ruminants - Bhutan: (CK), OIE 20100710.2308Peste des petits ruminants, sheep & goat - China: (Tibet), OIE 20100606.1887
2009
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Peste des petits ruminants - Nepal (02): (NA) 20091207.4163
Peste des petits ruminants - Nepal: (MH) 20090914.3229
Peste des petits ruminants - Ethiopia: (SO) 20090804.2746
Peste des petits ruminants - Pakistan: (SD) 20090726.2640
Peste des petits ruminants - Tanzania: (AS), OIE, RFI 20090314.1056
2008
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Peste des petits ruminants - Morocco (09): ovine, caprine, OIE 20081203.3797
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