March 12, 2001. Copyright 2001. Graphic News. All rights reserved.

ON THE TRAIL OF THE FOOT-AND-MOUTH VIRUS

LONDON, March 12, Graphic News: THE virulent outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in Britain, the latest scourge to hit European farming, has been traced back more than 10 years to India.

The virus is one of the most contagious diseases of cloven-hoofed animals -- infecting pigs, cattle, sheep, goats and deer. Zoo animals including camels, antelope and buffalo are also affected.

Animals can become infected through inhalation, ingestion and through reproduction.

The highest risk of entry of FMD is through imports of susceptible live animals, contaminated meat or dairy products from infected countries. The virus can survive for long periods in a range of fresh, partially cooked, cured and smoked meats, and in inadequately pasteurised dairy products. These could be brought in with passengers on aircraft and ships, through the mail or on fishing vessels or yachts.

The virus can also be carried for miles on the wheels of farm vehicles and on farmersÕ boots.

In the latest edition of research journal The Veterinary Record, Dr. Nick Knowles, of the Institute for Animal Health's Pirbright Laboratory in the UK, has tracked the type O, PanAsia, strain which reached British shores in February, to an outbreak in 1990 in northern India.

ÒFrom India it spread westward to Saudi Arabia, probably with the trade in live sheep and goats, and then moved into neighbouring countries so that by 1996 it reached Turkey,Ó Knowles and his colleagues reported in the journal of the British Veterinary Association.

From Turkey, it travelled into Greece and Bulgaria.

ÒDuring the following two years major outbreaks of FMD were reported from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan and the Arabian Peninsula, all due to the same strain,Ó he said.

During 1999 the PanAsia virus was responsible for outbreaks of FMD on at least three large Saudi Arabian dairy farms in spite of regular vaccination and high security surrounding the farms.

Meanwhile, it was also spreading eastward. In 1993 and 1994, it was found in Nepal, in 1998 in Bhutan and in 1999 it was identified in Tibet and in Hainan Province in the PeopleÕs Republic of China.

It hit Kinmen Island in Taiwan as cattle were moved from this island to the main island of Taiwan before an outbreak had been suspected.

It has been found in a number of countries bordering China and its neighbours, including Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and Laos.

ÒIn March 2000, the PanAsia strain spread to the Republic of Korea and Japan.Ó Knowles said. In Japan, which had not recorded an outbreak of the disease since 1908, the suspect was hay and silage from China contaminated with faeces, urine or saliva. In South Korea, dust storms from China were suspected.

The diseaseÕs apparent final stop before reaching the United Kingdom was South Africa. 

FMD broke out at a piggery at Camperdown in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands at the end of August last year. The outbreak -- which led to the slaughter of more than 7,000 animals -- was traced to food waste offloaded illegally from an Asian boat in Durban harbour and fed as pig swill. 

Knowles does not speculate on how it got to Britain, but it has been suggested that it may have entered Britain in leftover contaminated meat used in airline food which was illegally turned into animal feed.

To date Britain has slaughtered 114,082 animals with another 30,739 scheduled to be destroyed. 

The current outbreak of FMD is BritainÕs worst since 1967 when 430,000 animals had to be slaughtered.
/ENDS
Sources: Reuters, The Veterinary Record