11 April 2024
By: Lloyd Phillips
Although South Africa’s animal health authorities have made significant strides in bringing foot-and-mouth outbreaks under control, cases of this economically important disease sometimes have authorities scratching their heads.
The outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) that was reported on 21 February in the Free State’s Frankfort district remains localised to one commercial farm. Neighbouring farms have, however, also been placed under precautionary quarantine while further investigations are carried out.
Despite cattle on the index farm having shown mouth lesions and other signs indicating FMD infection, state animal health authorities have been unable to isolate FMD virus in these animals. This is preventing them being able to establish which of the three SAT types of FMD found in South Africa infected these animals.
According to an animal health expert who spoke anonymously to African Farming, isolating the virus helps authorities to link the outbreak with where it potentially originated. However, not knowing the type is not necessarily a problem because all FMD outbreaks are treated similarly.
Dr Mpho Maja is the director of animal health in South Africa. In her latest FMD outbreak report dated March 28, she says some outbreaks since 2021 have been successfully resolved but others remain open under varying degrees of control. Unfortunately, the 173 open outbreaks within the zone that was previously FMD-free without vaccination far outnumber the 65 closed outbreaks in the same zone.
According to Maja’s report, all cloven-hoofed livestock on farms neighbouring the FMD-infected index farm in the Frankfort district are under clinical and serological surveillance. This is to monitor for any potential spread of the disease.
Maja explains that although there are 22 other open FMD outbreaks in the Free State, these remain open only because they are still within the 12-month surveillance period to ensure no FMD virus is still circulating. The World Organisation for Animal Health requires this surveillance period before it will recognise an outbreak as closed.
“An outbreak was detected in Mpumalanga’s FMD protection zone in January 2024,” says Maja’s report. “This outbreak has no implications for exports from South Africa as movements [of livestock and livestock products] into the rest of the country are permanently prohibited from this area.
“This outbreak has affected 22 dip tanks with communal cattle at the date of this report. The affected area was placed under quarantine. Cattle in the affected area as well as adjacent dip tanks were vaccinated to arrest the spread of the virus. The last clinical cases were reported on 5 March 2024. Surveillance of surrounding dip tanks is continuing.”
KwaZulu-Natal has the most open FMD outbreaks. Maja says bringing these and potential future outbreaks under control is particularly challenging because the FMD-affected communal dip tanks and small-scale farms are close to each other. Adding to this challenge is the fact that there are five nearby game reserves whose African buffalo populations have FMD carrier status.
Maja says movement controls and surveillance measures are being implemented across all FMD-affected dip tanks in KZN. Furthermore, cattle in areas surrounding the five game reserves are being vaccinated.
