Egypt’s FMD outbreak reaches Gaza, threatening entire Middle East

Outbreak of SAT2 strain of FMD virus in Egypt and Libya reaches Gaza Strip

Sick animals detected in Rafah, a Gaza Strip town bordering Egypt, have tested positive for the SAT2 strain of the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) virus, following the February outbreak in Egypt and Libya, FAO said.

“The SAT2 variant is new to the region, meaning that animals do not have any acquired resistance to it.”

FMD Virus. Source: Virginia Bioinformatics Institute.

FMD  is  highly infectious and affects all cloven-hoofed animals, including sheep, cattle, buffalo, goats and pigs, causing serious production losses, and can be lethal, especially in younger animals.

When this shorthorn heifer in the United Kingdom became afflicted with foot-and-mouth disease, (a) she began to drool, and (b) virus-filled blisters developed in her mouth and at the junction where skin connects with the hoof walls. Source: LLNL

“Diseases simply do not respect international boundaries, and if FMD SAT2 reaches deeper into the Middle East it could spread throughout vast areas, threatening the Gulf countries – even southern and eastern Europe, and perhaps beyond” said Juan Lubroth, FAO’s Chief Veterinary Officer and head of the organization’s Animal Health Service.

About 10-million sheep, pigs, and cows were slaughtered during the 2001 outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom, which caused more than $5 billion in losses to the food and agriculture sector and even greater losses in tourism.

The foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) virus consists of a single strand of RNA packed inside a tough protein coat. The hardy virus can live 28 days in cool soil and up to 180 days in a slurry of cow dung. It can be spread directly from animal to animal, or it can be transported indirectly by a person or vehicle traveling from one farm to another—for example, with mud containing the virus caked on boots or tires. Livermore’s Pam Hullinger, a foreign animal disease diagnostician and veterinary epidemiologist, notes that FMD is so contagious, an animal can become infected after contact with as few as 10 virus particles.
Although the U.S. has not had an FMD outbreak since 1929, it is endemic in many parts of the world. In 2000 and 2001 a Pan-Asian strain caused outbreaks in Korea, Japan, Russia, Mongolia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, France, and the Netherlands. Source: LLNL

A SAT2 virus strain was recently reported in cattle in Bahrain’s quarantine center, FAO reported.

FMD Related Links

• Japan’s Foot-and-mouth Disease “Out of Control” Posted on June 12, 2010
• 2010 Disaster Calendar [DECEMBER]  Posted on December 3, 2010
• New type of HFMD virus spreading across Vietnam Posted on June 15, 2011
• HFMD outbreak in Vietnam 7 times deadlier than average Posted on December 16, 2011
• Major FMD Outbreak in Egypt Threatens N Africa, Mideast Posted on March 26, 2012

Global Disasters: Links, Forecasts and Background

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Back to the Primordial Future
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs
• Mass Die-offs

• 2010 Disasters [Links to 2010 Disaster Calendar]
• Mega Disasters
• 2011 Disaster Calendar
• 2012 Disaster Calendar

Major FMD Outbreak in Egypt Threatens N Africa, Mideast

FMD has killed thousands of animals, sickened tens of thousands more in Lower Nile Delta region

A major outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in Egypt is threatening to spread throughout North Africa and the Middle East, the U.N. Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned.

Disaster Calendar 2012 – March 26

[March 26, 2012]  Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.  SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,451 Days Left to the ‘Worst Day’ in Human History

• Egypt. A major outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in Egypt has killed more than 4,600 farm animals, mostly calves, and sickened more than 40,000 in the Lower Nile Delta region.
  • The disease is threatening to spread throughout North Africa and the Middle East, the U.N. Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned.
  • The new strain of  the FMD virus known as SAT2 is currently circulating throughout the region.
  • Livestock have no immune protection against SAT2 and vaccines currently available in Egypt are said to be ineffective against the new strain.
  • “The area around the Lower Nile Delta appears to be severely affected,” said FAO’s Chief Veterinary Officer.
  • “Vaccines are in limited supply for the FMD virus now present in Egypt. The country has some reserves of its own vaccines, but these do not protect against the SAT2 strain,” said FAO.
  • Milk, meat and other food products from sick animals are unsafe for consumption mainly because they contaminate the food chain.
  • Some 6.3 million buffalo and cattle and 7.5 million sheep and goats are at risk in Egypt, according to FAO’s livestock census data.
  • FMD  is  highly infectious and affects all cloven-hoofed animals, including sheep, cattle, buffalo, goats and pigs, causing serious production losses, and can be lethal, especially in younger animals.

FMD in mouth. Ruptured oral vesicle in a cow with Foot-and-mouth disease. Photo source: USDA

Global Disasters: Links, Forecasts and Background

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Back to the Primordial Future
• Mass Die-offs

• 2010 Disasters [Links to 2010 Disaster Calendar]
• Mega Disasters
• 2011 Disaster Calendar
• 2012 Disaster Calendar:  Collapse has already Begun