Occurrence of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus Serotypes in Uganda and Tanzania (2003 to 2015): A Review and Implications for Prospective Regional Disease Control

Abstract

Endemic foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) presents a global economic challenge to the livestock industry. The progressive control pathway for FMD (PCP-FMD) specifies successive steps through which a country/region can reduce FMD virus circulation and impact. These steps are reliant on understanding and obtaining knowledge on FMD epidemiology, to inform development of appropriate disease interventions like vaccination and quarantine programs. Currently, Uganda and Tanzania are in the early stages of the PCP-FMD.
 
 This review was undertaken to determine FMDV serotype distribution in Uganda and Tanzania between 2003 and 2015. The paper also presents the vaccine strains used in both countries for the same period viz avis the circulating topotypes. The review highlights four (O, A, SAT 1 and SAT 2) and five (O, A, SAT 1, SAT 2 and SAT 3) serotypes that occurred in Uganda and Tanzania respectively in the thirteen year period. Observations revealed that reported circulating serotypes O and A in the two countries belonged to similar topotypes, East African 2 (EA-2) and AFRICA respectively. The SAT 1 viruses in Tanzania belonged to topotype I and differed from the Ugandan SAT 1s that belonged to topotype IV. Similarly, the SAT 2s in both countries belonged to different topotypes: IV in Tanzania and I in Uganda. This review additionally, underscores the spatial distribution of FMDV serotypes in Uganda and Tanzania and highlights regions in both countries that had high serotype diversity. 
 
 The paper recommends definitive disease diagnoses, molecular serotype characterisation and matched vaccination deployment for improved disease control.

Household production and consumption impacts of foot and mouth disease at the Uganda-Tanzania border

“…The impacts of FMD on household livestock activities reflects the importance of devising transboundary control strategies in the region. Over 60% of households across Uganda and Tanzania reported an FMD outbreak supporting evidence to suggest that FMD virus infection is pervasive in East Africa ( 22 , 43 ). The widespread persistence and impacts of FMD along with the high diversity of FMD serotypes in circulation between 2013 and 2018 ( 22 ) likely reflect the high volume of trade within our study regions ( 44 ).…”

“…Over 60% of households across Uganda and Tanzania reported an FMD outbreak supporting evidence to suggest that FMD virus infection is pervasive in East Africa ( 22 , 43 ). The widespread persistence and impacts of FMD along with the high diversity of FMD serotypes in circulation between 2013 and 2018 ( 22 ) likely reflect the high volume of trade within our study regions ( 44 ). Coupled with increasing evidence on practical approaches for proactive vaccination for FMD in East Africa ( 45–47 ) and willingness to pay for approaches to improve vaccine matching ( 25 ), there is a strong need for transboundary collaborative efforts and policies to address the circulation of the FMD virus in East Africa.…”

“…Production losses hinder sector growth regionally but livestock owning households incur the most immediate impacts through increased control costs and lost income ( 19–21 ). Importantly, FMD is endemic in East Africa ( 22 , 23 ) such that households have previous experience with the disease to identify an outbreak but also lack sufficient tools to fully prevent infection or protect against production losses. Frequent inter-herd interactions coupled with limited availability of vaccines constrain East African households from preventing endemic diseases ( 24 ), such as FMD.…”