Correction: This afternoon I received an email from a reader who kindly informed me of a relatively new FMD testing technology called DIVA (Differentiating Infected from Vaccinated Animals) that could be used to determine whether an animal tested positive due to the disease or the vaccine.
New tools like DIVA will hopefully enable farmers to rescue their herds by `vaccinating to live’, although so far many countries and agencies appear slow to embrace this technology.
DIVA testing is discussed in Animal Health Australia’s FMD Vaccination FAQ page, and is featured prominently in the recent EXPERT OPINION ON VACCINE AND/OR DIAGNOSTIC BANKS FOR MAJOR ANIMAL DISEASES - SANCO/7070/2010 report.
Since I am hardly expert on FMD or DIVA testing, I would invited interested readers to check out the documents mentioned above - along with the UK site www.warmwell.com - which I’ve only begun to explore, but which seems to provide a wealth of FMD information (along with food security, animal health, rural matters and energy).
My great thanks to the reader who took the time to email me. I’m very happy to correct the record, and along the way, I’ve learned something new.
# 5213
As feared, more farms in South Korea are detecting the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus, with three new locations reportedly identified on Sunday.
In addition to several discoveries of wild birds with the virus in the southern half of the country, seven farms have now been found to be infected.
All of this comes amid the worst outbreak of FMD (Foot and Mouth Disease) in South Korea’s history, requiring the destruction of nearly one million animals to date.
First this report from Asia Pacific News, then a little more on my part.
S.Korea confirms more bird flu cases
Posted: 09 January 2011 1521 hrsSEOUL: South Korea confirmed three new cases of bird flu on Sunday as the outbreak that began last month further hit farmers who were also battling the nation's worst-ever outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.
The agriculture ministry confirmed three new cases of the highly contagious virus at duck farms in the southwestern county of Yeongam, bringing the total number of cases to seven since December 31.
The Double Whammy of having both bird flu and FMD striking Korean farms not only increases the economic impact of these animal diseases, it places severe strain on those agencies charged with food safety and disease control.
FMD (not to be confused with HFMD – a usually mild viral illness common to children) is a highly contagious viral disease that affects cloven hoof animals, but almost never infects humans.
It is endemic in many parts of the world (Africa, Asia, South America, some parts of Europe), but has been eradicated in many others. The last outbreak of FMD in the United States was in 1929 – but vigilance is maintained to prevent its return.
There are 7 known types of FMD, along with numerous sub-types. Immunity to one type does not provide immunity to the others, and the virus continues to mutate, making it even harder to create and maintain vaccine stocks.
As standard antibody <edited> blood tests cannot differentiate between a diseased animal and a vaccinated animal (both carry antibodies), vaccination of herds – while sometimes necessary – can greatly delay a countries return to an FMD Free status (see correction above).
Both Japan and Korea detected FMD in the spring of 2010, and after the destruction of 290,000 head of livestock, Japan declared their FMD crisis over in August.
Korea, however, continues to find diseased animals, and has now destroyed 948,000 pigs and cattle, vaccinated another 1.5 million head, and is looking to secure enough vaccine to inoculate another 6 million farm animals.
Officials at the same time are now forced to deal with an expanding outbreak of H5N1 in poultry, further stressing the system, and increasing the agricultural economic impact.
While the current outbreak of H5N1 has not yet approached the scale of the 2008 outbreak – when 8 million birds were destroyed - the winter `bird flu season’ still has several more months to run.