Appendix 16
Report of the 3 rd Roundta ble meeting on FMD control in the Middle -East and North A frica Damascus, Syria, Nove mber 6-7 th 2006 Report
Introduction A 3rd FMD Roundtable meeting on FMD Control in Middle-East and North A frica was held in Damascus, Syria, Nov ember 6-7th Nov ember 2006. The meeting was opened by H.E. Dr Adel Safar, Minister of A griculture and Agrarian Reform, and hosted by Dr Khoury , President of the GF-TADS Regional Steering Committee for the Middle-East . Sev eral countries and international organizations hav e participated in the meeting including Bahrain, Egy pt, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Pak istan, Saudi A rabia, Sudan, Sy ria, Turk ey , United A rab Emirates, Yemen, FAO (Rome), OIE (Central Bureau and Regional), WRL (Pirbright, UK), USDA A PHIS IS Cairo A rea Office, the Russian FGI-A RRIAH and French Ministry of Agriculture. The v accine production priv ate sector was represented.
The Agenda of the meeting is giv en in Appendix 1, and the list of participants in A ppendix 2 (to add). The Session considered the current risk situation and recent ev ents in FMD epidemiology in the region, the selection of FMD v accines to counter the risk , and the improv ement of performance and standardisation of FMD laboratory diagnosis. Summary From the results of the questionnaire surv ey , and from the reports to the meeting, it is clear that FMD remains a significant drain on the budgets of the national v eterinary serv ices of MENA countries and on the liv elihoods of liv estock owners across the MENA area. A lmost all countries operate v accination programs in large ruminants, some in all ruminant species. These v accination programs utilise v accines from a wide v ariety of sources, including producers based within the region and international suppliers from Europe and India; the lack of standardisation may be a factor affecting control. In 2005-6, the ME has been v ery hard hit by rapid inv asion and impact of two distinct serotype A v iruses, one which emerged in Iran (A Iran 05) in 2005- 6, and an incursion of an A frican ty pe A v irus into Egy pt causing widespread outbreak s in January-July 2006. In Turk ey and Iran, the ty pe A v accines in routine use did not prev ent the new strain from spreading. The A Iran 05 strain continues to circulate in Turk ey and I.R of Iran, and which has been detected in Pak istan and Saudi A rabia in 2006. Ty pe O remains endemic, but the risk of A sia-1 appears diminished with the last reported occurrence in Iran in A ugust 2005. SA T v iruses hav e not been reported in the region since 2003 (SA T-1 in Liby a), but serological ev idence of SA T infection in Sudan was presented. The dynamic situation requires continuous monitoring, not least because first detection of new strain s in the centre of countries rather than at the borders, and because of rapid animal trade mov ements, and also because other antigenic v ariants of serotype A were observ ed in 2005 and may continue to persist in the region and giv e rise to later re-emergence. Further, the proximity and importance of trade with countries in the Horn of A frica, and in west and central A sia, has the potential to introduce exotic FMD v iruses from these regions.
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