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Published Date: 2012-03-18 22:11:19
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Foot & mouth disease - Egypt (08): Update, international impact
Archive Number: 20120318.1073988

FOOT & MOUTH DISEASE - EGYPT (08): UPDATE, INTERNATIONAL IMPACT
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In this update:
[1] International impact
[2] Spread in Egypt (Assiut)
[3] Update, 18 Mar 2012
[4] Update, 15 Mar 2012, expert's epi comment

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[1] International impact
Date: 16 Mar 2012
Source: Boerderij [transl, edited]
http://www.boerderij.nl/Rundveehouderij/Nieuws/2012/3/MKZ-uitbraak-in-Egypte-en-Libie-1008970W/?cmpid=NLC|Boerderij%20-%20Vandaag|17-mrt-2012|MKZ-uitbraak%20in%20Egypte%20en%20Libi?

Foot and mouth disease in Egypt and Libya
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The State-Secretary for Agriculture Henk Bleker has issued a call to travelers to Egypt and Libya to refrain from taking any food or nature-products from these countries on their way back home [to those countries].

This is due to an outbreak of FMD. "The introduction of such products is a risk of an outbreak here", he said. This relates to meat, meat products, cheese, hunting trophies and skins of bovine, sheep, camels, deer, pigs and wild boar.

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[2] Spread in Egypt (Assiut)

Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2012
Source: AhramOnLine [edited]
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/36946/Egypt/Politics-/Foot-and-mouth-disease-worsens-in-Assiut.aspx

Foot and mouth disease worsens in Assiut
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The foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreak in Egypt is worsening in Assiut [map at http://healthmap.org/r/1-jV]. Some 84 animals have died so far, with at least 486 infected, according to the chief of veterinary medicine in the Upper Egypt governorate.

Kadri Abdel-Wehab said that veterinary teams have been closely observing the spread of the disease to know the full extent of the epidemic and to contain the situation.

Over the past 2 weeks, the FMD outbreak has hit 25 [out of the 27] governorates in Egypt, causing many animal deaths, especially among young animals, spurring fears that Egypt's livestock could be eliminated completely.

Rumours have spread regarding the causes of the recent outbreak, what the disease is, and its consequences in health and economic terms. Many people have said that the disease can be transmitted to humans, which is not true, according to experts.

According to Dr Hatem Farrag, assistant minister for agriculture for veterinary medicine, “People are exaggerating. This has nothing to do with humans being infected, and that is crucial to know.”

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[A HealthMap map showing Assiut is at:
http://healthmap.org/r/1-k2]

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[3] Update 18 Mar 2012
Date: Sun, 18 Mar 2012
Source: UPI [edited]
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2012/03/18/Foot-and-mouth-spreading-in-Egypt/UPI-16971332088384/#ixzz1pV4s7gAY

Foot and mouth spreading in Egypt
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Foot and mouth disease [FMD] has spread throughout Egypt, claiming more than 3100 animals, government officials said this weekend.

The General Authority for Veterinary Services said the Sat 2 serotype of the livestock disease had turned up in governates nationwide with well over 33 000 cases reported.

The state MENA news agency said the outbreak appeared to be most serious in the Gharbiya and Dakahliya governates.

Egypt last week suspended a vaccination program so that it could be adjusted to be more effective against Sat 2 [see comment]. Farmers were also required to bury dead animals rather than disposing of them in drainage canals.

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[4] Update, 15 Mar 2012, expert's epi comment
Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2012
Source: The Daily News Egypt [edited]
http://www.thedailynewsegypt.com/top-stories/agriculture-ministry-to-order-fmd-vaccinations-dp3.html

Agriculture ministry to order FMD vaccinations
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Minister of Agriculture Mohamed Reda Ismail said that all financial resources needed to import the necessary vaccinations to combat FMD are available, and the order will be made once results are delivered from the Institute for Animal Health in London [SAT2 confirmed by WRLFMD on Fri, 16 Mar 2012; see ProMED archive 20120316.1072712].

An outbreak of FMD among cattle in Egypt has been a concern for the past few weeks, with the Ministry of Agriculture preventing the trade or transportation of cattle between provinces.

According to the latest reports, 19 124 cases are suspected of having the disease and 1501 had died since the beginning of the outbreak, according to official state portal Egynews.net [but see later update above].

“Egypt is facing a new type of FMD which has been transferred from abroad. We are not currently prepared to combat it,” said Dr. Adel Abdel Azim, professor of epidemic diseases at Cairo University’s faculty of veterinary medicine.

Present in Egypt are FMD types A and O, for which local livestock have been vaccinated; however, the current outbreak is of FMD type SAT2, found in the country for the 1st time, explained Abdel Azim.

“Not having the necessary vaccine has made the outbreak more massive as livestock are infected directly and indirectly since the virus travels with the wind, as far as 120 km from the infected animal,” he added. [Though windborne transmission of FMDV is indeed one of the routes of spread, the distance mentioned is significantly excessive. The quantity of virus particles produced by a single infected bovine will be counted in meters rather than kilometers. - Mod. AS].

With the currently lagging state of security in the country, Abdel Azim fears that the virus may spread even more. This is due to the smuggling of livestock from the southern and western borders, where FMD type SAT2 is present, and specifically Libya, where there was an outbreak in February [2012] -- see ProMED archive listed below.

Farmers are also unwilling to report that their livestock has been infected. “They are not confident that the government will compensate them for their losses and this is all they have,” he said.

In his statement to the People’s Assembly on Sunday, the minister said that Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of the ruling military council, assured that all the necessary resources to compensate the farmers are readily available.

A major failure by the Veterinary Services Authority, according to Abdel Azim, is the medical caravans they have employed to go around the governorates to check on livestock. “The infected livestock must be treated at their home and any way which the virus can be carried must be prevented,” he said, adding that livestock markets must be shut down for the time being.

On the other hand, the head of the veterinarians’ Syndicate said there is an extreme shortage of veterinarians, with nearly 8000 [active], while there are 10 000 unemployed members of the syndicate. An independent authority for veterinary services has been formed via a presidential decree in order to deal with the disease, in addition to more than 1500 veterinarians employed in all veterinary units in governorates around the country.

“Meat and milk are completely safe,” the minister has previously affirmed, adding that FMD poses no risk to humans. According to the health ministry, humans are [only] infected in case of a contact between infected cattle skin and an open wound. [But there have been less than 50 human cases reported worldwide in the last 100 years. - Mod.JW]

[Byline: Safaa Abdoun]

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[The rapid spread of the virus throughout Egypt (1 001 450 sq km, S to N about 1000 km, W to E about 700 km) within weeks is indeed striking. Subscribers are referred to item 3 above, reporting that Egypt's FMD vaccination program has been suspended "so that it could be adjusted to be more effective against Sat 2". As can be deduced from the information in item 4 about "medical caravans which go around the governorates to check on livestock" and other information in the media, including pictures of infected animals thrown in front of government offices by protesting farmers, biosecurity measures are poor to non-existent. On top of that, if mass vaccination has been initially undertaken (apparently using an inadequate vaccine), vaccinating team should have taken severe measures to prevent becoming spreaders of the virus between visited farms.

Genotyping of the circulating FMDV SAT2 should be accomplished the soonest, its results leading to an expected recommendation on the vaccine strain to be applied.
- Mod.AS.]

See Also