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

Abstract

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.

Temporal Geospatial Mapping of Foot and Mouth Disease Outbreak in Aceh, Indonesia

“…India and Bangladesh, both countries, also had cyclical and seasonal patterns over ten years post-monsoon (Rahman et al, 2020;Sharma and Singh, 1993). Other South American countries, like Brazil and Argentina, have also experienced cyclical and seasonal patterns of FMD outbreaks despite significant improvements in disease control through vaccine campaigns and stringent biosecurity measures (Brito et al, 2016;Rivera et al, 2023).…”

Viral Diseases in Water Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis): New Insights and Perspectives

“…European Union (EU) countries are usually free [19]. Severe cases have been described in native swamp buffalo from India, Egypt, Romania, and South America [20,21]. For North and Central America, it is considered exotic and is one of the main objectives of prevention and control strategies for its entry.…”

Why Foot-and-Mouth Disease-Free with Vaccination Should Be Equivalent to Foot-and-Mouth Disease-Free without Vaccination

“…In 1988, South America established the Hemispheric Program for the Eradication of Foot-and-Mouth Disease [ 11 ], which has been effective in coordinating national “Vaccinate-to-live” campaigns, with more than 94.7% of South American territory being officially recognized as FMD-free by the end of 2019 and the clearly defined aim to completely eradicate FMD from the Americas by 2025 [ 12 ].…”