Published Date: 2021-09-24 19:48:14
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Foot & mouth disease - Namibia (03): (CA) cattle, sheep, goat, st O, spread
Archive Number: 20210924.8698684
FOOT & MOUTH DISEASE - NAMIBIA (03): (ZAMBEZI) CATTLE, SHEEP, GOAT, SEROTYPE O, SPREAD
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: Thu 23 Sep 2021
Source: Reuters via Successful Farming [edited]
https://www.agriculture.com/markets/newswire/namibia-detects-a-new-strain-of-foot-and-mouth-disease
Namibia has detected a new strain of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in the country, the agriculture minister said in a statement on Thursday [23 Sep 2021].
"It is important to highlight that the new FMD serotype O also causes clinical cases in goats and sheep and they can spread the disease further to other susceptible animals," Minister Carl Schlettwein said in a statement.
[Byline: Nyasha Nyaungwa & Wendell Roelf]
--
Communicated by:
ProMED from HealthMap Alerts
<promed@promedmail.org>
[OIE's Map presenting the 3 outbreaks reported so far in Namibia's Zambezi region, bordering Zambia, is available in Namibia's updated OIE report, available at https://wahis.oie.int/#/report-info?reportId=40164. The outbreaks are located in Namibia's 'FMD infected zone'; the other 2 'FMD zones' are 'FMD Containment zone' and the beef-export-certified 'FMD free zone' (see Mod.CRD commentary in 20210703.8494016).
The report is complementary to the information presented in ProMed post no 20210814.8595516. The susceptibility of small ruminants is of significance for Namibia's current FMD prevention and control activities. According to the above OIE report, vaccination in response to the outbreaks has been undertaken in the affected compartment. It will be interesting to note if the vaccination covers sheep and goats in addition to cattle, and if the FMDV-O vaccine strain matches the genotype involved. Genotyping has been, reportedly, performed by the OIE Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Reference laboratory (SSARRL) for FMD, housed and administered by the Botswana Vaccine Institute (BVI). Results are expected.
Zambia reported the circulation of FMDV-O in 2020. The virus sample, collected from cattle in the western province, was submitted to the world reference laboratory, Pirbright, and found to be of topotype EA-2. Detailed genotyping results including most closely related sequences and a dendogram are available <at https://www.wrlfmd.org/sites/world/files/quick_media/WRLMEG-2020-00022-ZAM-GTR-O-O_001.pdf>.
The details of the serotype O vaccine strain used in Namibia and its matching rate to the circulating virus will be helpful. - Mod.AS
HealthMap/ProMED map:
Zambezi Region, Namibia: http://healthmap.org/promed/p/35623]
