Published Date: 2022-05-09 23:17:54 BST
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Foot & mouth disease - Maghreb: Algeria, Tunisia, epidemiol., transbound. threat
Archive Number: 20220509.8703156
FOOT & MOUTH DISEASE - MAGHREB: ALGERIA, TUNISIA, EPIDEMIOLOGY, TRANSBOUNDARY THREAT
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: Fri 6 May 2022
Source: Plateforme ESA [in French, trans., abridged, edited]
https://www.plateforme-esa.fr/article/re-introduction-de-la-fievre-aphteuse-au-maghreb
Three outbreaks of serotype O foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) have been detected in Algeria since 28 Mar 2022. The phylogenetic characterization of the strains in question is not yet available.
This episode comes 3 months after Tunisia detected 6 outbreaks of serotype O, the 1st having been detected on 4 Jan 2022. The disease had been absent from Tunisian territory since March 2019. Phylogenetic analyzes of the Tunisian strains had confirmed the EA-3 topotype, with 99.4% homology with Nigerian strains identified in 2021, and 97.1% homology with the O/EA-3 strain that had circulated in Maghreb in 2018-2019. These results were in favor of a new introduction of foot-and-mouth disease from sub-Saharan Africa.
Phylogenetic analyzes carried out on viruses detected in Africa between 1986 and 2019 had shown multiple introductions of O/EA-3 strains into sub-Saharan Africa in recent years, as well as into the Maghreb in 2018-2019, to be linked to increased connectivity between the countries north and south of the Sahara. Indeed, the new trans-Saharan road axis, which starts from Lagos in Nigeria and goes directly north to Algiers in Algeria, with connections to Tunis in Tunisia, is nearing completion.
The reappearance of FMD in Tunisia, then in Algeria 3 months apart, demonstrates the real risk that this disease represents not only for the Maghreb countries but also for Europe.
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Communicated by:
ProMED Rapporteur Mahmoud Orabi
[The above publication, authored by France's Plateforme ESA (animal health epidemiosurveillance platform), includes the following maps (accessible at source URL):
Figure 1. FMD outbreaks detected in Algeria and Tunisia since 1 Jan 2022
Figure 2. Circulation of the topotype O/EA-3 FMD virus in Africa between 1986 and 2019
For Plateforme ESA purpose, missions, and organisation, please see https://www.plateforme-esa.fr/page/la-plateforme-esa-0. - Mod.AS
ProMED maps of Algeria: https://promedmail.org/promed-post?place=8703156,67 and Tunisia: https://promedmail.org/promed-post?place=8703156,71]
