Foot and mouth disease outbreaks in Africa

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Date Issued
2001
Language
en
Type
News Item
Accessibility
Open Access
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Citation
CTA. 2001. Foot and mouth disease outbreaks in Africa. Spore 92. CTA, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Permanent link to cite or share this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/46130
External link to download this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/99595
Abstract/Description
In late 2000, several African countries were startled by an outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD). Besides a probably modest outbreak in the south of Mauritania, eastern and southern Africa were particularly badly hit by the highly contagious...
Notes
In late 2000, several African countries were startled by an outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD). Besides a probably modest outbreak in the south of Mauritania, eastern and southern Africa were particularly badly hit by the highly contagious disease. After 44 years of absence, FMD broke out in South Africa in September. In November, in KwaZulu Natal thousands of animals had to be slaughtered and a 20,000 square kilometre quarantine zone was put in place to contain the outbreak. Early in December, FMD was discovered in Mpumalanga, the area that accounts for 13% of South Africa s beef product industry. From here, it probably spread to Swaziland, where an abattoir was placed under quarantine after detection of FMD in cattle imported from Mpumalanga. Despite extensive measures, such as slaughtering and quarantining animals, followed by an outbreak-free period from mid-December onwards, a new case reared its ugly head in the Northern Province in February 2001. In all, the FMD outbreak in South Africa has prompted around 30 international bans on the country s meat products, including the countries of the European Union, themselves hard hit by an outbreak originating in the UK in February. A third outbreak in southern Africa has occurred in Tanzania in herds of the Serengeti wildebeest, where the disease had never been reported before. These herds might spread FMD further since they tend to migrate to Kenya in the month of July. The OIE, the world organisation for animal health has a very up-to-date monitoring and news section on its Website (www.oie.int). OIE 12, rue de Prony, 75017 Paris France Fax: +33 1 42 67 09 87 Email: oie@oie.int Website: www.oie.int
Regions
Africa; Eastern Africa; Southern Africa
Organizations Affiliated to the Authors
Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
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