Summary and recommendations

75th Session of the Executive Committee of the European Commission for the Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease 29-30 November 2007 London, United Kingdom Executive Summary and Recommendations

The Executive Committee of the European Commission for the Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (EUFMD) held its Seventy-Fifth Session in London, UK, on the 29th and 30th of November 2007. Members of the Executive Committee present were: Dr Peter de Leeuw (the Netherlands) Chairman, Dr Ulrich Herzog (Austria) Vice-Chairman, Dr Jeko Baychev (Bulgaria), Dr Spiros Doudounakis (Greece), Dr Carlos Pinheiro (Portugal) and Dr Fred Landeg (UK). Other participants were Dr Aldo Dekker (the Netherlands), Chairman of the Research Group, Dr Kris De Clercq (Belgium) ViceChairman and Dr David Paton (UK) representative of the FAO World Reference Laboratory. In addition, the CVO of Greece, Dr Batziliotis, attended the Session, and Dr Georgiev attended as technical advisor to Dr Baychev. Observers from the international organizations were Dr Alf-Eckbert Füssel, Head of Sector, DG-SANCO, Brussels, Dr Gideon Brückner, Scientific Department of the OIE, Paris and Dr Giancarlo Ferrari, FAO, representing the Chief of the Animal Health Service of FAO Dr Joseph Domenech. The list of participants is given in Appendix 28. The Session considered the current risk situation and recent events in FMD epidemiology in the region and reviewed progress of actions as agreed in the Strategic Plan for 2005-8 and endorsed by 37th Session of the Commission.

The Recommendations reached are as follows:

Considering that: 1. Member countries of EUFMD Commission have been at risk or directly affected by the ongoing epidemic of type O PanAsia II in the middle-east, which spread as far as Thrace and Egypt in October 2007; 2. further spread of the type O PanAsia variant virus and type A Iran 05 and possibly A Egypt 06 to countries in the near-east is likely to occur in the winter of 2007; 3. high containment facilities are essential in Europe to ensure adequate capacity for research on FMD control and for production of vaccines required by member states; 4. member states in which high containment facilities for FMDV are authorized to have a duty to ensure that the Minimum Standards for laboratory containment of FMD virus are continually applied; 5. reporting of the signs of FMD in cattle by owners and animal attendants is not completely reliable and that active surveillance, in addition to passive surveillance, may be required to ensure early detection of new outbreaks; 6. member countries should perform FMD surveillance using farmers and veterinarian networks, and notify the disease according to the standards of the OIE Terrestrial Code; 7. new approaches and methods to assist the pre-clinical diagnosis of FMD and the diagnostic of infection in decentralized settings (pen-side) are now possible and could assist earlier detection of infection in endemic and newly affected countries; 8. member states should maintain their preparedness for FMD laboratory confirmation, involving an annual involvement in the FAO/CRL proficiency test exercises; 9. progress has been made in the validation of NSP tests for the major species, but that many countries lack the experience in surveillance after FMD outbreaks and that confidence is needed to design suitable decision “”trees”” to assist decisions on flocks or herds with positive animals; 10. the Commission has received requests from member states for training in the field investigation of FMD outbreaks; 11. an epidemic type A strain that is poorly matched to the A22 Iraq vaccine has been detected in Afghanistan, which possibly threatens Iran and Turkey; 12. Thrace region and the Transcaucasus, remain under high risk because of the high volume long distance animal marketing patterns and the incidence of type O and A infections in neighbouring regions of Turkey and Iran and because of the relatively low and variable vaccination at village level in these source regions; 13. collaborative work on FMD surveillance has shown that FMD is under reported in Iran and continuous circulation occurs, mainly in the less biosecure village level production systems with spill over infections occur in more intensive livestock systems;

14. the level of animal importation from the east, the current level of vaccination coverage, herd immunity and biosecurity measures are not sufficient to prevent FMDV entry and circulation; 15. the Asia-1 situation appears favourable in Iran and the region at present, but the situation in the wider region, including Pakistan, central and south Asia, must be kept continually under review.

Recommends that:

On the International FMD situation and on FMD vaccine stocks

1. The WRL/CRL should at future Sessions produce also a list of the priority FMDV strains circulating in the region and which threaten the European member states and to which the NRLs should maintain their preparedness for detection. 2. Additional effort is needed to ensure a continual supply of type A viruses from Afghanistan/Pakistan/west Asia to the WRL to monitor for possible appearance of an epidemic of type A viruses which would not be covered by A22 Iraq vaccine. 3. Contingency planning is needed in Iran and Turkey to prepare for the possible emergence of type A viruses poorly covered by A 22 Iraq. 4. Type C vaccine stocks should be maintained by the EU antigen bank and by National banks that hold these, for the foreseeable future until it is proven beyond reasonable doubt that type C is no longer circulating anywhere in the world and that all type C stocks are maintained only in high security laboratory facilities. On the FMD situation and control in Member States of the Commission, issues and lessons learnt

The Research Group should develop: 5. Guidance on the definition of “fragmented herds and holdings”, where it is expected that each fragment is a distinct epidemiological unit for disease investigation and control purposes. 6. A guidance paper on the use of additional measures beyond the normal size and requirements for a SZ, including “enhanced” SZ practises and areas. 7. Guidance for clinical examination procedures for cattle, sheep and pigs that would increase sensitivity of detecting FMD during veterinary patrols. On the FMD situation in Turkey, Iran and the Transcaucasus 8. The EUFMD Commission should offer to assist Turkey to develop a strategy document on FMD control and eradication in Turkey, covering the next 7 years (to 2015). The Terms of Reference should be agreed between the Secretariat, the EC and Turkey and progress should be reported to the 76th Executive Committee. 9. The EUFMD Commission should continue to support the Iranian Veterinary Organization to implement improvements to surveillance and control of FMD in Iran and the project document for Consolidation Phase, 2008-9, be finalized and submitted to the EC for their urgent consideration and approval. 10. Given the risk of a widespread epidemic in Georgia as a result of lack of vaccination since December 2006, the authorities should take every effort to secure stocks of FMD vaccine as an emergency reserve and to draft plans for the management of an emergency campaign. The EUFMD Commission should assist them in the above, if requested. On the issue of improving FMD diagnostic preparedness in Europe 11. The Commission should guide the member states as to the minimum level of FMD diagnostic capacity to be maintained in each country, which will assist each member state to audit its own level of preparedness and enable the Commission to identify gaps. 12. To assist the above, the Research Group should produce a short statement on the minimum diagnostic capacity and the CRL is encouraged to begin the development of a diagnostic manual for FMD that would become the reference text for EU laboratories. 13. A letter should be sent by the Chairman to all member countries indicating that they are expected to participate in the annual ring trials organized by the CRL/WRL and that their participation and performance in such trials would be annually reviewed by the Executive Committee. 14. The Commission should support the development of capacity for FMD confirmation in member states, and in non-members in neighbouring regions, through the promotion of use of high sensitivity FMDV detection devices and test procedures, and promote the required supporting national or regional External Quality Assurance (EQA) services to ensure a basic minimum level of expected performance.