FMD CONTROL IN LIVESTOCK THROUGH NADCP IN INDIA: A KEYNOTE
Dr.Rajesh Kumar Singh, Livestock Consultant, Jamshedpur,
The National Animal Disease Control Programme (NADCP) was launched in Mathura (UP).
In order to provide safety to the country’s cattle population from Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Brucellosis, National Animal Disease Control Programme (NADCP), a 5-year project has been launched by the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi with total outlay of INR 13,343 crore (USD $ 2 billion).
This programme envisages to control diseases like Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Brucellosis in bovines which causes severe economic losses to the dairy farmers in the country.
Individual record of all the vaccinations and other interventions carried out for each animal is captured in INAPH with animals’ unique ear-tag numbers and details of its owner.
This will not only ensure the traceability of the animals, data reliability on vaccination but also for attaining disease-free status. Under NADCP it is essential to identify each animal viz. cattle, buffaloes, sheep, goat, and pigs with ear-tag printed with a unique identification number.
Once registered in INAPH, all the interventions carried out on each animal will be available with the farmer and policymakers which will help in making informed decisions and creating a robust database that will accelerate the growth in the animal husbandry sector.
The Information Network for Animal Productivity and Health (INAPH), an ICT infrastructure, developed and established by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) is the backbone of the NADCP
National Animal Disease Control Programme (NADCP) :
The project is being implemented by the Department of Animal Husbandry &Dairying under the Ministry Of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying.
The programme aims to control livestock diseases, foot and mouth disease and brucellosis in livestock by 2025 and eradicate these by 2030.
The programme also aims at vaccinating 36 million female bovine calves annually in its fight against the brucellosis disease.
To control the livestock diseases by 2025, and eradicate them by 2030.
The livestock that will be covered under the programme includes cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats, and pigs against the FMD.
The project will be fully funded by the Central Government.
The entire cost of the scheme is to be borne out by the Central Government.
The scheme includes vaccination coverage to 30 crore bovines, 20 crore sheep or goat, and 10 million pigs.
Brucellosis control program shall extend to cover 100% vaccination coverage of 3.6 crore female calves.
Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is a contagious disease of cloven footed animals capable of causing severe economic loss to the farmers. The assessments of direct economic losses due to FMD outbreak were estimated to be more than 30000 crores per year in India. There are seven serotypes of FMD virus, and among them the serotypes O, A & Asia 1 are prevalent in India. Infection with one serotype does not confer immunity against another. Therefore, outbreaks may be encountered even after initial vaccination. However, after repeated vaccination the disease can be controlled.
Considering these aspects, the Department of A.H & Veterinary, Govt.of India has started execution of an action plan for control of FMD through mass vaccination of cattle and buffaloes by bi-annual vaccination so that the herd immunity level can be raised.
Foot and Mouth Disease –
Foot and mouth Disease is an highly contagious disease of all cloven footed animals, caused by Aphthovirus from family Picornaviridae, characterized by blister like vesicles in mouth and feet with profuse salivation and sudden death in young animals.
Morbidity may reach upto 100% in a susceptible population where the disease is rarely fatal in adult animals, but the mortality is usually high in young animals due to necrotic myocarditis.
Epidemiology :
Africa, Asia and some South American countries are endemic to FMD. A serious outbreak in Taipei, China in 1997 where 4 million pigs died or were slaughtered within a few months, smuggling of animal products in fishing boats was believed to be the source of infection.
In 2001 Britain experienced a devastating outbreak which also spread to Ireland and Netherlands before it was finally controlled. The cause here was found to be illegal import of infected meat products to UK. The disease spread was due to movement of animals which showed no prominent clinical signs.
The last outbreak in USA was in 1929, Canada in 1951-52 and in Mexico in 1946-1954.Japan suffered a serious outbreak of FMD in 2010. In 2015 South Korea reported FMD outbreaks in swine farms resulting in the destruction of 2774 pigs. Usually the disease occurs as an outbreak which spread very rapidly from herd to herd before it is controlled.
There are Seven major serotypes viz., A, O, C, South African Territories (SAT)1, SAT2, SAT3 and Asia1 for FMD Virus. Among these, O and A are most common in all endemic countries.
There is no cross immunity between serotypes which means one type does not confer protection against others. This is the major constraint for vaccination programmes, further the antigenecity also varies dramatically between developing serotypes.
The transmission of FMD will be by a variety of methods between herds, countries and continents but spread from one animal to another is by inhalation or by ingestion. In endemic areas, the most important method of spread is by direct contact between animals moving across state and national boundaries as trade or nomadic cattle.
The virus can persist in aerosol form for long periods in temperate or subtropical climates but not in hot and dry climates. The speed and direction of the wind are important factors in determining the rate of airborne spread. Humidity is also important. In the most favourable circumstances, virus can be spread to a distance of 250 Km by wind.
Pigs are the most potent excretors of airborne virus and cattle the most susceptible to airborne infections.
In cattle, the virus first infects and multiplies rapidly in pharynx then a few days later, viraemia occurs and the virus appears in milk and saliva for upto 24 hours, later the vesicle formation can be noticed. All the secretions and excretions can be infective before the animal is clinically ill and also after the symptoms disappear. The virus will be at highest concentration in the vesicular fluid. Some of the animals are believed to remain as carriers and this issue is gaining importance in the epidemiology of the disease. Human being can act as vehicle of transmission of the disease.
The virus persists in the nasopharynx and may be excreted in erratically low level for upto 2 years. The mammary tissue also is a site of persistence for 3-7 weeks.
The spread of the disease from herd to herd will be either directly by the movement of animals or indirectly by transportation of virus on inanimate objects, especially uncooked and unprocessed meat products and other animal products like milk.
The Disease is most important in cattle and pigs. Goats, sheep and buffaloes in India are also affected. The Disease in Buffalo population is usually mild but the infection rate is high and persistent.
The virus is resistant to common disinfectants, it can persist for 1 year in infected premises, 10 to 12 weeks on clothing and feed, and upto a month on hair, but 1-2% Formalin, and 4% Sodium carbonate can destroy the virus within minutes.
Clinical Findings :
Incubation period in cattle can range from1-14 days however, incubation period in cattle is usually 2 to 6 days; symptoms start with reduced milk yield, followed by high temperature (104F to 106 F), anorexia and acute painful stomatitis.
The temperature slowly subsides and Profuse salivation, with ropy saliva with vesicle or bullae on buccal mucosa, tongue and dental pad.
The vesicles rupture in 24 hours leaving raw surfaces which will be painful and heals about in 1 week. Simultaneously vesicles appear in the clefts of hooves or on the coronet region causing lameness.
A Chronic syndrome of dyspnoea, anemia, over growth of hair and lack of heat tolerance will be noticed as sequel to FMD in cattle which might be due to endocrine damage.
Economic Importance of FMD
FMD is the most feared Disease in the Developed countries only may be second to BSE. This is because of the high morbidity even though the mortality and case fatality rates are low.
As per the OIE and FAO, the disease is a major threat to food security of the world, and particularly the countries having the disease are more prone to food insecurity. Further, FMD free status is an indicator of development, and all developed countries are free from it.
The 2001 outbreak of UK alone resulted in losses approximating US $ 12Billionwith about 10 million livestock deaths in spite of the eradication of the disease within 7 months.
At present, in India the disease occurrence, severity of the clinical disease and number of outbreaks have progressively and substantially declined in the control zones as a result of several rounds of vaccinations with an oil adjuvant trivalent inactivated vaccine.
In India, the direct loss is over and above 20,000 crore/annum that is due to significant drop in milk yield (up to 80%), loss in drought power, reduction in meat and wool production, abortion in pregnant animals and mortality in calves. Indirect loss could be much more and due to trade barrier imposed by the countries free from FMD, and massive expenditure by Government on FMD control and cost of treatment lead to further economic loss. However, the state-wise losses due to FMD have not been estimated.
FMD is being controlled by Eradication or Vaccination or by combination of both, but eradication is practically a difficult proposition in endemic countries like India as we have wild life reservoirs.
In endemic countries, Vaccination is the only measure to control the disease. A Single vaccine shot can protect the animal only for about 6 to 8 months. Young animals with maternally derived antibodies do not respond to vaccine.
In endemic countries, Vaccination is the only measure to control the disease. A Single vaccine shot can protect the animal only for about 6 to 8 months. Young animals with maternally derived antibodies do not respond to vaccine.
In order to prevent, control and contain the Foot and Mouth disease and to prevent economic losses and develop herd immunity in cloven footed animals, the Department has initiated Foot and Mouth Disease Control Programme in the country.
The Foot and Mouth Disease Control Programme (FMD-CP) had been initiated since 10th Five Year Plan in 54 districts which was extended to 221 districts in the 11th Five Year Plan period. During the 12th Plan period the scope of the programme have been expanded to cover 351 districts of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Goa, Rajasthan, Bihar, Puducherry, Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu and Lakshadweep. Presently, all the districts in the country are brought under the coverage of the Control Programme covering 29 States and 7 Union Territories.
The major activities of the intensive programme component is to vaccinate all the eligible cattle and buffaloes at six monthly interval, Publicity and Mass Awareness Campaign, including orientation of the State functionaries for implementation of the scheme, identification of the target animals, Serosurveillance/monitoring of animal population on random basis, mass vaccination, procurement of cold cabinets and FMD vaccine, assessment of the randomly collected samples of vaccines for their quality, virus typing in case of outbreaks and recording/regulation of animal movement from unvaccinated areas through temporary quarantine/ check-posts.
To assess the effectiveness of the vaccination programme, serum samples of 10 cattle and 10 buffalo (at random) before vaccination and 21-30 days post vaccination from 10 villages at random from each district for each round of vaccination should be collected and screened for level of serotype specific neutralizing antibodies. A total of 400 serum samples per district per round of vaccination will be continued to be collected at random and tested.
In order to have early warning system in place, State Government is required to undertake surveillance of FMD. In the event of any outbreak, it should be reported immediately and the state should take action to control and contain the disease as per the provisions of the Prevention and Control of Infectious and Contagious Diseases in Animals Act, 2009:
• Each and every outbreak should be investigated to know the epidemiology of the disease with forward and backward linkage.
• Isolation and containment of sick animals and their treatment.
• Ring vaccination (5-10 Km) radius around the affected village/area to cover all the susceptible animals including sheep, goats, pigs etc. to prevent virus transmission
• Restriction/control of movement of infected animals to prevent the spread of the infection.
• Disinfection and implementation of bio-security measures
• Adequate Public awareness campaign in outbreak areas.
Based on the effective vaccination under the Foot and Mouth Control Programme, the country has proposed “FMD Free Zones with vaccination” in four states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, and Punjab following the guidelines of World Organization of Animal Health (OIE).
It is expected that with the implementation of a planned control programme covering the whole country in a phased manner under FMD-CP, the vaccination will be gradually stopped and the disease brought controlled in entire country by the year 2025.
Foot and mouth disease (FMD, Aphthous fever)
FMD is an acute viral and extremely contagious disease of cloven footed animals such as cattle,sheep, goats, pigs and antelope.
Tx:-
Direct and indirect contact with infected animals and their secretions including
saliva, blood, urine, faeces, milk and semen, aerosol droplet dispersion, infected animal byproducts, swill containing scraps of meat or other animal tissue and fomites and vaccines.
Dx:-
It is manifested by vesicles and erosions in the muzzle, nares,mouth, feet, teats, udder and pillar of the rumen.
Fever up to 41.7°C
Dullness
Lack of appetite
Drastic drop in milk production.
Uneasiness and muscle tremors
Vesicle formation:
Smacking and quivering of lips
Extensive salivation and drooling
Shaking of feet and lameness
The vesicles and later erosions are commonly found on the muzzle, tongue , oral
cavity, teat and on the skin between and above the hoofs of the feet. In more chronic cases in
cattle the hoof become loose and the animal may walk with characteristic “clicking” sound
(Slippering).
Some strains of FMD, particularly in swine, sheep and goats cause erosions instead of vesicles
Postmortem findings:-
- Necrosis of heart muscle(tiger heart), usually only in young acutely infected animals.
- Ulcerative lesions on tongue, palate, gums, pillars of the rumen and feet.
Rx:-
In order to prevent the spread of the virus in the abattoir, the equipment and room should be disinfected with 2 % NaOH (caustic soda). In some countries sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) is used.
The vehicle conveying diseased animals should also be disinfected and abattoir personnel leaving the abattoir should pass through a footbath with 1 % solution of
NaOH.
The virus can be destroyed with 0.5 % citric or lactic acid, by cooking meat to an internal
temperature of 69°C and by pasteurization processes of milk.
Reference:On request
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