Item 2a FMD control: epidemiology, surveillance, control measures: focus on endemic zones

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Appendix 40 ……………………………………………………………………………… 336 Eliana Smitsaart, N. Mattion, G. Mazzuca, B. Robiolo, E. Maradei, J. Filippi, A. Sadir, A. Falczuk, J. La Torre, A. Pedemonte, R. D’Aloia, O. Periolo, G. Cadenazzi, E. Palma, and R. Bellinzoni Foot-and-mouth disease in Argentina: Development of vaccines for emergency, control and eradication of the disease

Appendix 41 ………………………………………………………………………………. 349 S.I. Deliloglu Gürhan, M. Mustafaev Akdeste, Z. Mustafaeva, Akdeste, G. Aynagöz, G. Ünver, Nilay Ünal, and N. Çelik Preparation of Synthetic Peptide FMD vaccine with newly developed Antigen-Polymere conjugates to be used as imunogen and vaccine in veterinary medicine

Appendix 42 ………………………………………………………………………………. 358 David Paton Proposals for completion of Phase XVII and for Phase XVIII

Appendix 43 ………………………………………………………………………………. 360 List of participants

INTRODUCTION

A session of the Research Group of the Standing Technical Committee of the European Commission for the control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (EUFMD) was held in Çesme, Izmir, Turkey, from 17 to 20 September 2002.

The meeting was chaired by Dr Kris De Clercq (Belgium). Members of the Group present were: Drs. Aldo Dekker (the Netherlands), Franco De Simone (Italy), Alex Donaldson (UK), Chris Griot (Switzerland), Bernd Haas (Germany), Per Have (Denmark), Vilmos Palfi (Hungary), Ms Nilay Unal (Turkey) and Hagai Yadin (Israel). Apologies were received from Dr Francois Moutou (France) and Dr J.M. Sanchez-Vizcaino (Spain) who were unable to attend.

Dr Keith Sumption, Secretary of the EUFMD opened the meeting by welcoming all participants to the meeting. It was pleasing to see such an excellent turnout and thanked especially those who had travelled so far to attend the meeting. A welcome was also conveyed to the representatives of international organizations present, in particular, Dr Schudel from OIE and Dr Füssel from the EC.

Special gratitude was conveyed to the Government of Turkey, in particular Dr Hüseyin Sungur the Director General of the General Directorate of Protection and Control of Turkey, and his team, who have worked so hard on the arrangements for hosting this Session of the Research Group and for arranging such an attractive venue. Dr Sungur was invited to take the floor.

Dr Sungur welcomed all the participants to his country and was honoured to host this session in Turkey. He expressed the hope that this meeting will contribute to the control of FMD, and therefore the development of the livestock sector and food security in all countries. He indicated that individual efforts of countries in the control of contagious animal diseases are not always sufficient to protect their livestock from such diseases. He went on to say that in this respect, FMD is one of the best examples to use and highlighted the need for regional, or even global, cooperation for disease control. He stated that it is mainly for this reason that some countries and international organizations have developed several regional animal health projects. He used EUFMD as an example, which was established in 1954 with the help of FAO.

Dr Sungur briefly informed the meeting of the measures taken by Turkey in its efforts to control FMD. The FMD Institute has been recently modernised and vaccine production conditions have improved sufficiently to obtain protection against FMD by the vaccination of at least 80% of the susceptible population. Vaccine demand has been met through local production and when required, through importation. Intensive preventive vaccination campaigns have been organised to take place twice a year.

A Vaccine Control Laboratory has been established in Bornova near Izmir where modern diagnostic methods have been introduced. The illegal movement of animals has been minimised by the intensification of border control, and very strict measures such as quarantine, disinfection and preventive vaccination have been introduced to control FMD outbreaks. Meat, milk and poultry products for exportation are only obtained from FMD-free