The Eurasian Economic Commission and the Regional Office of the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) held a seminar in Moscow on foot-and-mouth disease and pest of small ruminants (PPR) in accordance with the Joint Action Program of the Commission and the WOAH for 2022-2024.
The seminar was attended by the EEC personnel, the WOAH leading experts, officials and experts of the authorized veterinary bodies of the Eurasian Economic Union States, as well as their leading subordinate institutions and laboratories.
They considered the epizootic situation across the globe and the EAEU countries, and the WOAH requirements to be met in order to attain respective status of the country regarding this disease, as well as the mechanism for its granting.
“Joining efforts to eliminate outbreaks of these diseases with due regard to the WOAH recommendations and global experience, will enable accelerating the removal of restrictions in mutual trade and will help increase the export potential of our countries,” noted Viktor Nazarenko, EEC Minister in charge of Technical Regulation.
Vladimir Subbotin, Deputy Director of the Department for Sanitary, Phytosanitary and Veterinary Measures, outlined the legal basis for ensuring the Union's epizootic welfare. He informed on the Commission's activities to prepare the EEC acts relating to the Procedure for applying general principles and rules to prevent, localize and eliminate foot-and-mouth disease foci in the EAEU territory as well as the interaction between the EAEU States' authorized authorities in obtaining certificates of the WOAH status recognition.
The representative of the WOAH Reference Center for foot-and-mouth disease has informed the seminar attendees on spreading the foot-and-mouth disease and PPR across the globe, the high risk of importation of FMDV serotype SAT-2 into the EAEU territory, which is exotic for the Member States, as well as the ongoing work to create a new FMD vaccine. Representatives of the EAEU countries' authorized bodies reported on the FMD and PPR epizootic situation in their regions, and exchanged experience in obtaining the WOAH statuses for these diseases.
Practical exercises on the procedure and method of submitting documents to obtain the WOAH official status for FMD helped the seminar attendees to delve into typical mistakes made by experts.
The knowledge gained during the seminar will be useful to the EAEU States' veterinary specialists. Given the WOAH recommendations, they will help in organizing and implementing measures to prevent the importation and spread of foot-and-mouth disease and pest of small ruminants into the territory of their countries, as well as in obtaining relevant WOAH statuses for these diseases.
For reference
The WOAH is an intergovernmental organization responsible for animal health worldwide. It is recognized as a reference organization of the WTO.
Foot and mouth disease is an acute highly contagious viral disease of cloven-hoofed and tylopoda domestic and wild animals, manifested by fever, vesicular (aphthous) lesions of the mucous membrane of the tongue and oral cavity, udder skin, corolla, interdigital fissure and crumbs. Foot-and-mouth disease refers to transboundary infections - diseases that can spread rapidly regardless of national borders, are of great economic importance and affect trade between countries and food security. People can come down with the foot-and-mouth disease as well.
Pest of small ruminants is an acute contagious viral disease. It affects mainly sheep and goats, sometimes wild small ruminants. Camels, cattle and buffalo are considered susceptible, although their potential role in PPR circulation has not been officially established. PPR is common in Africa, except for South Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, most countries in the Near and Middle East, and Central and Southeast Asia. It is usually acute and characterized by temperature rise, serous discharge from the eyes and nose, diarrhea and pneumonia, erosion of various mucous membranes, in particular the oral cavity. It has a similar clinical picture, including to foot-and-mouth disease.
