Vector‐borne diseases

Abstract

After a request from the European Commission, EFSA's Panel on Animal Health and Welfare summarised the main characteristics of 36 vector-borne diseases (VBDs) in 36 web-based storymaps. The risk of introduction in the EU through movement of livestock or pets was assessed for each of the 36 VBDs individually, using a semiquantitative Method to INTegrate all relevant RISK aspects (MINTRISK model), which was further modified to a European scale into the EFSA-VBD-RISK-model. Only eight of the 36 VBD-agents had an overall rate of introduction in the EU (being the combination of the rate of entry, vector transmission and establishment) which was estimated to be above 0.001 introductions per year. These were Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus, bluetongue virus, West Nile virus, Schmallenberg virus, Hepatozoon canis, Leishmania infantum, Bunyamwera virus and Highlands J. virus. For these eight diseases, the annual extent of spread was assessed, assuming the implementation of available, authorised prevention and control measures in the EU. Further, the probability of overwintering was assessed, as well as the possible impact of the VBDs on public health, animal health and farm production. For the other 28 VBD-agents for which the rate of introduction was estimated to be very low, no further assessments were made. Due to the uncertainty related to some parameters used for the risk assessment or the instable or unpredictability disease situation in some of the source regions, it is recommended to update the assessment when new information becomes available. Since this risk assessment was carried out for large regions in the EU for many VBD-agents, it should be considered as a first screening. If a more detailed risk assessment for a specific VBD is wished for on a national or subnational level, the EFSA-VBD-RISK-model is freely available for this purpose. Acknowledgements: The Panel wishes to thank the hearing experts: Ann Lindberg, Clazien Devos, Herman Van Roermond and Marieta Braks, and EFSA staff member: Julia Illenberger for the preparatory work on this scientific output.

Assessment of listing and categorisation of animal diseases within the framework of the Animal Health Law (Regulation (EU) No 2016/429): equine encephalomyelitis (Eastern and Western)

“…The AHAW Panel assessed overall rate of introduction of EEEV as low and WEEV as very low in the EU (EFSA AHAW Panel, ), being the combination of the rate of entry of the pathogen, the level of transmission and the establishment in the EU.…”

“…Supporting No: The animal welfare impact is not considered to affect large numbers of animals. Based on the model as in the scientific opinion on vector‐borne diseases (EFSA AHAW Panel, ), the likelihood of animal welfare impact for large numbers in the EU is low. …”

“…Supporting na: There may be an impact on animal welfare for the affected horses but it is difficult to state that this would be on ‘large numbers’. In the USA, there have been large epizootics, but the model in the scientific opinion on vector‐borne diseases (EFSA AHAW Panel, ) showed that for EEEV there was a very low to low rate of introduction, and subsequently, a very low extent of annual spread. The latter had high uncertainty due to the high uncertainty related to the efficacy of the control measures to contain the spread.…”

Japanese Encephalitis, Recent Perspectives on Virus Genome, Transmission, Epidemiology, Diagnosis and Prophylactic Interventions

“…Mainly, JEV infections remain asymptomatic in humans, but 1% of infections result in clinical disease with a fatality rate of 20-30%, further 30-50% of recovered individuals may undergo everlasting neuropsychiatric sequelae (Campbell et al, 2011;Sundari et al, 2016;Heffelfinger et al, 2017). JE is a notifiable disease as listed by World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) but its reporting is highly variable and incomplete due to lack of technology and observation in remote areas (Malhotra et al, 2015, More et al, 2017. Though actual incidence reports are still lacking, it was approximated that at present roughly 67,900 JEV incidences were occurring every year in 24 countries of South-East Asia and Western Pacific regions, wherein 10,426 cases reported in 2011 only (CDC, 2013).…”

Commentary: Outbreak of Chikungunya in Pakistan

“…Vector-borne diseases account for over 17% of all infectious diseases, causing more than one million deaths annually (8). Chikungunya virus also circulates in Pakistan (1), and we believe that factors including climate vagaries, poor sanitation, unchecked border crossings, unplanned urbanization, and changes in agriculture practices contribute to the recent chikungunya outbreak in the country.…”