44TH GENERAL SESSION OF THE EUFMD COMMISSION
ONLINE 21-22-23 APRIL 2021
Global Foot-and-mouth disease situation Presenter: Don King, TPI on behalf of the FAO/OIE FMD Laboratory Network (Appendix 1)
Key Messages 1. A biennial agreement with the EuFMD supports the global GF-TADS Strategy via international FMD surveillance activities of the WRLFMD and coordination with sixteen partner laboratories of the OIE/FAO FMD Laboratory Network (www.foot-and-mouth.org). 2. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the depth of global FMD surveillance and targeted surveillance (with support from international donors) is urgently required to cover gaps in disease intelligence. 3. There continues to be a large proportion of samples leading to no-virus detected (NVD). 4. Risks of long-distance movements of different FMD virus lineages to cause outbreaks in unexpected locations. Sequence data continues to highlight the importance of South Asia as a source of new FMD viruses that have caused recent field outbreaks in Southeast Asia and West EurAsia. 5. The WRLFMD is working with international partners to improve systems to assess the performance of FMD vaccines to address gaps and challenges for vaccine selection for endemic pools. 6. WRLFMD works to improve the diagnostic capacity in FMD endemic countries through proficiency-testing schemes, training missions and delivery of eLearning courses.
Summary The OIE/FAO FMD Laboratory Network (https://www.foot-and-mouth.org/) was established in 2004 as a forum to exchange laboratory and epidemiological data, as well as harmonize and improve the quality of diagnostic testing carried out by international and national FMD laboratories. A key role of the Network is to understand the spread of viral lineages across the world, and review constantly the risks posed to countries that are free of FMD (with or without vaccination). In 2020-21, the surveillance activities of the Network have been impacted by the on-going COVID-19 pandemic through (i) the repurposing of laboratories and staff for SARS-CoV-2 testing, (ii) local shortages in laboratory reagents and PPE as well as (iii) the logistical challenges to arrange shipments to international reference laboratories. A large proportion of the samples received by the WRLFMD in the past biennium led to no-virus detected (NVD), highlighting major challenges affecting optimization of sampling, cold chain maintenance, and correct shipment of samples to Reference Laboratories. The Network has continued to monitor the emergence of new FMDV lineages from South Asian countries (India, Nepal and Bangladesh) and tracked the new spread of different FMD viruses from central/eastern/western Africa into novel locations including the Gulf States of the Middle East (Bahrain), Islands of the Comoros (in the Indian Ocean) and to countries in North Africa, that pose a direct risk to Europe (individual and summary reports can be retrieved from www.wrlfmd.org). Together, these events highlight the ease by which new FMDV lineages can emerge and cross international boundaries. They emphasize the importance of the work undertaken by the Network to monitor continuously FMD risks for EuFMD Member Nations. Ongoing trans-pool movements since 2015: O/ME-SA/Ind-2001 sub-lineages “d” and “e”, O/EA-3 and A/AFRICA/G-IV into North Africa and O/EA-2 in Southern Africa. 11
