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The European Commission for the Control of Foot and Mouth Disease (EuFMD) of the FAO has informed Member States about the increase in the number of FMD outbreaks in several North African countries (Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya) and a major change in the epidemiological situation with the very recent detection of serotype SAT 2 as the cause of some of the outbreaks that have occurred, a serotype that previously had only been reported in Algeria.
Apart from the constant risk of incursion into the EU posed by the circulation of these serotypes in the region, the recent confirmation of serotype SAT 2 in Algeria is of priority interest because the vaccination programs that these countries are applying are focused on serotypes A and O and do not include effective vaccine strains for this serotype SAT 2, with the exception of Tunisia that is using a vaccine strain that could have some efficacy against it, efficacy that is being studied by the EURL at this time. On the other hand, due to the upcoming Ramadan period in North Africa, an intensification of animal movement in the area is expected.
Although the risk is always present, the aforementioned facts represent an increased risk of incursion of FMD in the EU and especially Spain given the geographical location and closer ties with these southern neighboring countries. Given this situation, Spain's Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA) recommends extreme precautions to reduce the risk of virus introduction into Spain and Europe, through the reinforcement of cleaning and disinfection protocols for land and maritime means of transport, extreme biosecurity at border control posts, as well as reinforcing awareness of the existing risk, and reinforcing passive surveillance on farms, frequently observing animals and immediately notifying the official veterinary services of the autonomous communities of any suspicion of disease.
January 2024/ MAPA/ Spain.
https://www.mapa.gob.es/
