scale – just to control an outbreak – both methods of eradication must be considered. Dr Chris Griot presented a paper on the evaluation of eradication strategies including the acceptance of any future vaccination of livestock in case of an FMD outbreak in Switzerland (Appendix 16). The evaluation involved a roundtable discussion with the livestock producers, state veterinary services, consumer organisations, animal rights activists and food retailers. The aim was to inform all participants about the basic aspects of FMD, current eradication strategies and the alternative possibilities. The main conclusions drawn from these discussions were a) stamping out of infected herds is accepted to be the basic tool for eradication; b) mass prophylactic vaccination is not conceived to be an option for the protection of animals; c) suppressive vaccination is rejected; and, d) protective vaccination is accepted by all stakeholders. The consumer organisations as well as the food retailers seemed to be willing to accept the marketing of products from vaccinated animals although there was some hesitation expressed by food retailers to sell products from FMDV vaccinated animals. Dr Alex Donaldson informed the meeting that the “minimum conditions for the importation into Europe of live animals fresh meat and offal of the bovine species” are under revision. Conclusions •
Models can be a valuable tool to aid the decision-making processes but in the absence of strong data they should not be used to drive control policy.
•
Policy discussions on disease eradication strategies with stakeholders and consumer organisations should be initiated before any FMD “crisis” arises.
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The use of highly sensitive fully validated NSP tests would allow veterinary services to establish whether virus was still circulating following a vaccination campaign and compensate for the reduced effıciency of clinical surveillance resulting from vaccination.
•
The devastating consequences of the UK 2001 epidemic have stimulated consideratıons of disease control strategies less reliant on extensive cullıng.
Recommendations •
The possibility of applying increased biosecurity to farms, transport of carcasses and rendering plants during FMD emergencies using containment principles from biosecure laboratories should be investigated.
•
Refine existing models and apply them as a decision support process after peer review.
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It is recommended to investigate whether principles applied in the high-containment laboratory can – in addition to existing procedures – also be applied on suspicious and outbreak farms. The development of a completely closed system for transporting carcasses which, on arrival at rendering plants enter air locks, should be investigated.
•
It is recommended that the development and full validation of improved tests for serological surveillance, in particular the NSP tests, is supported. 9
