78thExcom-Oct2009
ITEM 9. Progress reports on FMD control projects in the region 9.1) Annual Tripartite (on control of FMD and other exotic diseases in the Southern Balkans) The Meeting was held on 5th October, in Istanbul, and was attended by Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey, with FAO, EuFMD, OIE and EC, and WRL representatives; the Session was briefed on the main points of discussion and conclusions by Dr Georgiev (Bulgaria)(Appendix 15). The representatives of Greece and Bulgaria were pleased with the progress reported by Turkey, and the plans to submit a dossier for FMD freedom with vaccination, for Thrace region. Regarding other diseases, a commitment to report any exotic disease (FMD, SGP, PPR, BT, CSF...) was made, should these occur in mainland or island areas which neighbour the territory of one of the other states. A new report (of BT on Lesbos) was provided by Greece. The meeting also agreed that in 2010 the Meeting should be a wider meeting, of Balkan region vet services, preferably arranged by FAO under Gf-TADS for Europe. 9.2) FMD control in Turkey Dr Askaroglu, CVO Turkey, provided a progress report (Appendix 16) on the Turkish FMD control program, including the implementation of actions supported by the EC under EuropeAid TR 06 03 02. He presented data indicating an overall much reduced incidence of FMD in 2008-9. Turkey remains endemic for types A and O, but Asia-1 has not been recorded since 2002. No outbreaks of FMD have been reported from Thrace region in 2008 or 2009, an improvement over the previous two years (6 outbreaks in 2007), and in line with the target of achieving 24 months without reporting (or circulation) of FMD in order to apply for official recognition of zonal FMD free status with vaccination at OIE; with the intention is to submit the dossier by December 2009 with the hope of recognition in May 2010. One hundred and thirty six outbreaks were reported in 2009, of which 102 were confirmed and serotyped (42 type A, 60 type O). Two type A sublineages are circulating in Turkey, AIran05 ARD07 and ERZ07, although in one case in South-Eastern Anatolia close to Iraq border, an isolate of the BAR08 lineage was detected. Turkey has therefore largely escaped the regional epidemic of A Iran 05 BAR08 that affected many near-east countries and reached to Libya in Spring 2009. A decision had been made in 2008 to switch to A TUR 06 in the 2009 vaccination campaigns. The lack of cross-protection with A Iraq22 vaccine in 2008 may be the reason for the higher incidence of type A in 2008, compared to 2009. A new type O genotype was also detected from august 2008; termed O PanAsia II: TER-08, with 4% sequence change compared to the previous PanAsia II. The origin of the new variants was not clear, but presumed to be entries from the East (Iran, Syria, Iraq). Control of FMD in Thrace region is largely through the twice yearly FMD vaccination programme in large ruminants, and once yearly in small ruminants; trivalent (A, O, Asia-1) vaccine from Merial is applied in both large (LR) and small (SR) stock. Vaccination coverage was 94% (LR) and 102% (SR) in spring 2008, and 96% (LR) in autumn 2008, rising to 96% and 92% respectively in spring 2009. Effectiveness of vaccination was monitored by sero-survey; 68%, 95% and 96% of 600 sera from Marmara region were positive for types O, A and Asia-1 (at 1/100 dilution, LPBE test). Import of live animals from Anatolia into Thrace region is not allowed, except during Kurban-bayram festival; at the latter time a separate animal market is established in Istanbul, for animals from other parts of Thrace region (to control the possible return of unsold animals) and from Anatolia. The 2009 sero-survey in Thrace region (9,278 animals, 152 villages) returned only 10 positive samples; follow-up investigations (with >300 samples collected) indicated these were false positive findings, and it was concluded that there is no evidence of FMDV circulation in Thrace region in the recent past. Control of FMD in the rest of Turkey (Anatolia); with support of the EC project, FMD vaccination percentage has risen to its highest level (21.4m doses delivered in 2008); in 2009 this will include national small ruminant vaccination (in autumn), which has not happened before; in 2008 SR populations in some areas of north and south coasts were excluded from the program. The spring coverage in LR was 89% (8.7m of 9.8m).
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