Foot-and-mouth disease may have been curtailed

9 January 2024

With only one new case of foot-and-mouth reported last year, it seems the spread of the disease may have been stopped in its tracks.

The only outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease reported last year was on October 6 in a communal area in KwaZulu-Natal. Since then, no new cases have been reported.

The Directorate for Animal Health at the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development said in its latest report on the disease on January 8 that 165 outbreaks are still indicated as active but 131 of them are at dip tanks and small-scale farms in KZN’s communal areas.

Work is under way to test animals for further exposure at 24 cases in the Free State, seven in North West and three in Gauteng before there can be closure. In total, there are 50 outbreaks that are no longer active and have been resolved.

A total of 634 000 animals have been vaccinated against the disease since March 2022 and more than 200 000 have been slaughtered under controlled conditions. No cases have occurred in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape or Northern Cape.

The single outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease outside the controlled area in Mpumalanga was resolved by slaughtering the animals in June 2023. This part of the province was then declared free of the disease without any vaccination.

Limpopo also has a protected area where routine vaccinations occur, but the rest of the province has been declared free of foot-and-mouth disease after resolving and closing the outbreaks that occurred there.

Dr Danie Odendaal, director of the Veterinarian Network, says while people should not be overly reassured, the disease is no longer a crisis. It still occurs in the traditional controlled areas in Limpopo and KZN around game reserves, but even there the spread has stopped. However, it will always recur in these areas.

In an interview on RSG Agriculture, he said the Sat 1, 2 and 3 strains of the virus found in South Africa are buffalo related. If transmitted from cow to cow, they become weaker until they disappear if there is no buffalo host to strengthen the virus.

He emphasises that biosecurity on a national basis and traceability remains crucial.