Published Date: 2022-12-30 22:17:38 GMT
Subject: PRO/AH> Foot & mouth disease - Israel (08): (Golan) cattle, st pending, WOAH
Archive Number: 20221230.8707525

FOOT & MOUTH DISEASE - ISRAEL (08): (GOLAN) CATTLE, SEROTYPE PENDING, WOAH

A ProMED-mail post http://www.promedmail.org
ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases http://www.isid.org

Date: Wed 28 Dec 2022
Source: WOAH-WAHIS (World Animal Health Information System) 2022 [edited]
https://wahis.woah.org/#/in-review/4808


Israel - Foot and mouth disease virus
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Summary
General information
Report type: immediate notification
Started: 18 Dec 2022
Confirmed: 28 Dec 2022
Reported: 28 Dec 2022
Reason for notification: recurrence
Last occurrence: 2 Jun 2022
Causal agent: foot-and-mouth disease virus
Subtype: pending
Nature of diagnosis: clinical, suspicion
This event pertains to a defined zone within the country.

Outbreak location: Buqata El Rom, Golan
Started: 18 Dec 2022
Epidemiological unit: other
Total animals affected
Species / Susceptible / Cases / Deaths / Killed and disposed of / Slaughtered or killed for commercial use / Vaccinated
Cattle / 71 / 43 / 0 / 0 / 0 / -

Affected population: The herd is a free-ranging herd containing 8 adult cows, 1 adult bull, 20 young cows born in 2020, 21 heifers born in 2021, 21 heifers born in 2022. To date, 27 Dec 2022 (the date when veterinary services have been notified and visited the herd), the oldest lesions corresponded to 10 days lesions. All the herd has been vaccinated in the end of July 2022 except 6 young animals that where not born or too young to be vaccinated. Clinical symptoms: drooling, lesions in mouth and tongue, limping. Most of the cases appeared in young animals.

Epidemiology
Source of the outbreak(s) or origin of infection: unknown or inconclusive

Control measures
Domestic control measures applied: zoning, surveillance within the restricted zone, quarantine, movement control
Domestic control measures to be applied: vaccination in response to the outbreak(s)

Diagnostic test results
Laboratory name and type / Species / Test / First and last result date / Result
Kimron Veterinary Institute, foot-and-mouth disease laboratory / cattle / real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) / 28 Dec 2022 / positive

[The location of the outbreak can be seen on the interactive map included in the WOAH report at the source URL above.]

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communicated by:
ProMED

[ProMED map of Israel: https://promedmail.org/promed-post?place=8707541,68867

According to a circular of the Field Veterinary Service (FVS) dated 28 Dec 2022 (circulated 29 Dec 2022; at https://tinyurl.com/5btm9yp8), the affected beef-cattle herd is owned by a villager from Buq'ata. The herd, kept between Buq'ata and El-Rom (map at https://tinyurl.com/2krhxesm), includes a total of 80 adult cows and 40 younger animals (heifers and calves born between 2020-2022). The above WOAH report deals with a group of 71 head, held separately, of which 60% were clinically affected. The (entire?) herd had been vaccinated on 30 Jun 2022 and again on 27 Dec 2022, the date of the FVS visit.

It was immediately put under quarantine.

The following strains of FMDV serotype O strains are known to have been circulating in the Middle East during recent years:
1. ME-SA/PanAsia-2/ANT10 (Turkey 2021; Jordan 2021; PA-WB 2021-2, Israel 2022)
2. ME-SA/PanAsia-2/QOM15 (Turkey 2019, 2021; PA 2019; Israel 2018-9, 2021)
3. ME-SA/Ind-2001 (Jordan 2017; Saudi Arabia 2018)
4. EA-3 (Libya 2019; Bahrain 2021; PA-WB 2017; PA-Gaza 2017, 2021; Israel 2017)

In early 2022, ME-SA/PanAsia-2/ANT10 was introduced from Jordan into the PA and Israel, spreading widely, causing 92 outbreaks throughout Israel, most of them in the north (WOAH map at https://wahis.woah.org/#/in-review/4305). The most recent outbreak, declared resolved in October 2022, occurred in Lehavot-Habashan, less than 10 km south west of the current outbreak (Buq'ata).

Genotyping of the pathogen will allow identifying its source. If caused by ME-SA/PanAsia-2/ANT10 strain, it may be the 93rd case of the 2022 event; otherwise, it may become the primary outbreak of a new, 2022/2023 FMD season, probably introduced from the adjacent Syrian territory, some 8 km distant.

The rate of protection rendered by the vaccines used in Israel during recent years became an issue of debate during the 2022 large outbreak. The vaccination policy has been consequently reviewed, assisted by post-vaccination follow-up serological trials comparing vaccines from 2 international producers. Eventually, it was concluded that animal challenge trials are conditional to obtain a reliable evaluation of vaccine efficacy. - Mod.AS]