Published Date: 2019-05-24 12:11:37
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Foot & mouth disease - Libya (02): (ZW) sheep, st pending, OIE
Archive Number: 20190524.6484254
FOOT & MOUTH DISEASE - LIBYA (02): (AZ-ZAWIYA) SHEEP, SEROTYPE PENDING, OIE
A ProMED-mail post http://www.promedmail.org
ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases http://www.isid.org
Date: Wed 23 May 2019
Source: OIE, WAHIS (World Animal Health Information System), weekly disease information 2019; 32(21) [edited]
http://www.oie.int/wahis_2/public/wahid.php/Reviewreport/Review?reportid=30585
Foot-and-mouth disease, Libya
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Information received on 23 May 2019 from Dr Zakaria Mohamed Mustafa Elkhatal, Director General, National Centre for Animal Health (NCAH), Ministry of Agriculture, Animal & Marine Wealth, Tripoli, Libya
Report type: follow-up report no. 1
Date of start of the event: 25 Apr 2019
Date of confirmation of the event: 3 May 2019
Report date: 22 May 2019
Date submitted to OIE: 23 May 2019
Reason for notification: recurrence of a listed disease
Date of previous occurrence: 30 Dec 2014
Manifestation of disease: clinical disease
Causal agent: Foot and mouth disease virus
Serotype: pending [see comment]
Nature of diagnosis: clinical, necropsy
This event pertains to the whole country
New outbreaks (1)
Summary of outbreaks
Total outbreaks: 1
Outbreak 1: Ajeelat, Gout Aldis, Az Zawiya
Date of start of the outbreak: 16 May 2019
Outbreak status: continuing (or date resolved not provided)
Epidemiological unit: farm
Total animals affected
Species / Susceptible / Cases / Deaths / Killed and disposed of / Slaughtered
Sheep / 260 / 100 / 40 / 0 / 0
Affected population: the flock of sheep consists of 260 heads; the symptoms began on 16 May 2019 (death in recent births - lameness)
Outbreak statistics [rates apparent, expressed in percentages)
Species / morbidity rate / mortality rate / case fatality rate / proportion susceptible animals lost*
Sheep / 38.46 / 15.38 / 40 / 15.38
*Removed from the susceptible population through death, destruction, and/or slaughter
Epidemiology
Source of the outbreak(s) or origin of infection: unknown or inconclusive
Epidemiological comments [retained from the immediate notification]: Clinical symptoms of foot and mouth disease in dairy cattle in different regions. The samples required for laboratory diagnosis were collected and the laboratory diagnosis was not performed locally because of the absence of diagnostic materials. Samples are being processed and sent to the Brescia reference laboratory in Italy as FTA card.
Control measures
Measures applied: surveillance within containment and/or protection zone; quarantine; disinfection; vaccination permitted (if a vaccine exists) [see comment]; no treatment of affected animals.
Measures to be applied: vaccination in response to the outbreak(s); surveillance outside containment and/or protection zone; traceability
The event is continuing. Weekly follow-up reports will be submitted.
[The location of the outbreak can be seen on the interactive map at the source URL above.]
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Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[The current FMD outbreak is Libya's 3rd since the start of the event (25 Apr 2019). All 3 outbreaks are situated within the major region Tripolitania, north-western Libya, which borders Tunisia on its west.
The 1st 2 outbreaks affected cattle and were located in the districts Misratah (district no 6 on the administrative map at https://tinyurl.com/y6cxjoft; starting 25 Apr 2019) and Tarabulos/Tripoli (district no 4 on the same map; starting 5 May 2019). The case-fatality rate in the 2 cattle outbreaks combined was 12.50 percent.
The most recent outbreak, reported above, affected sheep. It is located in the district Az-Zawiya (no 2 on the said map, about 50 km (31 mi) from the Tunisian border) and reportedly started on 16 May 2019. This outbreak is the closest to the Tunisian border. Its case-fatality rate, as reported, is 40 percent.
While in cattle FMD is usually characterized by overt clinical signs, FMD in adult sheep and goat is often mild and inapparent, diagnosis (too) often missed. However, the infection in sheep/goat offspring may be dramatic. When sheep or goat flocks experience sudden mortalities in young lambs/kids, with or even without lameness been observed in adult animals, FMD should be included within the differential diagnosis list. The sudden deaths in FMD-affected lambs and kids are caused by cardiac failure due to pancarditis/necrotic myocarditis; for pictures and observations, please refer to http://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-javs/papers/Vol11-issue7/Version-1/A1107010110.pdf and/or https://tinyurl.com/y6ez75nw.
The appearance of FMD outbreaks in 3 different districts along Libya's north-western coast may be indicative of a wider spread of the virus than reported. The serotype of the causative strain has not yet been defined. A recent event in the Maghreb countries Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco, has been caused by FMDV serotype O. The Algerian FMDV-O strain (collected from cattle in Tizi Ouzou, 30 Dec 2018) has been genotyped by the WRLFMD (Pirbright) as topotype EA-3; see at http://www.wrlfmd.org/sites/world/files/quick_media/WRLMEG-2019-00006-ALG-GTR-O-O_001.pdf.
High mortality, characteristic of FMD's effect in juvenile sheep, may also be indicative of a relatively high virulence of the FMDV strain involved. The serotyping and genotyping results of the Libyan FMD strain are anticipated with interest.
In case vaccinations "in response to the outbreak" are applied, as apparent from the OIE report above, it would be interesting to obtain data on its source and valences. - Mod.AS
HealthMap/ProMED-mail map of Libya: http://healthmap.org/promed/p/65104]
