Advances in the eradication of foot-and-mouth disease in South America: 2011-2020.

For more than 70 years, the countries of South America have been attempting to eliminate foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), but a regional strategy had not been established by all the affected countries until 1988. The Action Plan 1988-2009 of the Hemispheric Program for the Eradication of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (PHEFA 1988-2009) resulted in an FMD-free status in 88.4% of the bovine population of South America. However, countries of the Andean sub-region maintained an FMD endemic. In addition, sporadic outbreaks in vaccinated cattle populations have been reported in countries of the Southern Cone, endangering the disease-free status in these countries. Within this context, the PHEFA 2011-2020 was approved to eliminate FMD from the subcontinent, and this review describes the most important milestones during its execution. FMD in Ecuador and sporadic outbreaks in the Southern Cone sub-region were effectively eliminated. The outbreaks that occurred in Colombia in 2017 and 2018 were successfully controlled. The type C virus was removed from the vaccines in use in most countries, based on a risk assessment. This review also describes the progress made by the countries advancing toward official recognition as FMD-free in all their territories, with Bolivia, Brazil, and Peru leading the progressive suspension of vaccination to achieve FMD-free status without vaccination. Consequently, at the end of PHEFA 2011-2020, Venezuela was, and still is, the only country in the region whose control program has suffered setbacks, and no evidence has suggested that the transmission and infection of the bovine population have been eliminated. At the end of 2020, a new PHEFA Action Plan 2021-2025 was approved with a five-year horizon, to complete the eradication of the disease in the Americas.

Non-discriminatory Exclusion Testing as a Tool for the Early Detection of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Incursions.

Endemic circulation of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in Africa and Asia poses a continuous risk to countries in Europe, North America, and Oceania which are free from the disease. Introductions of the disease into a free region have dramatic economic impacts, especially if they are not detected at an early stage and controlled rapidly. However, farmers and veterinarians have an obvious disincentive to report clinical signs that are consistent with FMD, due to the severe consequences of raising an official suspicion, such as farm-level quarantine. One way that the risk of late detection can be mitigated is offering non-discriminatory exclusion testing schemes for differential diagnostics, wherein veterinarians can submit samples without the involvement of the competent authority and without sanctions or costs for the farmer. This review considers the benefits and limitations of this approach to improve the early detection of FMD in free countries and gives an overview of the FMD testing schemes currently in use in selected countries in Europe and the Americas as well as in Australia.

Investigating the temporal and spatial distribution of foot-and-mouth disease virus serotype C in the Region of South America, 1968-2016.

This study investigates the historical temporal trend and geographical distribution of the foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDv) serotype C in South America; discussing the findings within the context of the actions and strategies carried out for the elimination of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). This is the first time that such a comprehensive historical compilation has been carried out in the Region; hence, the study is intended as a reference and source of evidence about the presence/absence of FMDv serotype C in South America. Data on the occurrence of FMD were sourced from the Weekly Epidemiological Reports submitted by the countries to Pan American Foot-and-Mouth Disease Center (PANAFTOSA-PAHO/WHO) since 1972, and complemented with other sources of information from the 1968-1971 period. The temporal distribution was examined with local weighted regression (LOESS) to identify two temporal trends, that is, "smoothed" and "over-adjusted", utilising the time-series with the total number of cases per year, at Regional level. Thereafter the outbreaks were aggregated by decades and mapped by the first subnational administrative level. As a result, two major peaks of occurrence were identified, one in the 70s, with up to 1,193 outbreaks, and another in the 80s, with 380. Overall, the investigations show a clear regressive trend in the occurrence of serotype C, with a reduction in the number of outbreaks over-time, and with the subsequent reduction of affected locations. This study illustrates the contrast between the very limited presence over the last 20 years - with only one event in 2004 - and the epidemic situation in the 1970s and 1980s, and suggests that serotype C of FMDv is no longer present in the Region.