EFSA Journal (Jun 2021)

Scientific Opinion on the assessment of the control measures for category A diseases of Animal Health Law: Foot and Mouth Disease

  • EFSA Panel on Animal Health and Welfare (AHAW),
  • Søren Saxmose Nielsen,
  • Julio Alvarez,
  • Dominique Joseph Bicout,
  • Paolo Calistri,
  • Elisabetta Canali,
  • Julian Ashley Drewe,
  • Bruno Garin‐Bastuji,
  • José Luis Gonzales Rojas,
  • Christian Gortázar Schmidt,
  • Mette Herskin,
  • Virginie Michel,
  • Miguel Ángel Miranda Chueca,
  • Barbara Padalino,
  • Paolo Pasquali,
  • Liisa Helena Sihvonen,
  • Hans Spoolder,
  • Karl Ståhl,
  • Antonio Velarde,
  • Arvo Viltrop,
  • Christoph Winckler,
  • Kris De Clercq,
  • Simon Gubbins,
  • Eyal Klement,
  • Jan Arend Stegeman,
  • Sotiria‐Eleni Antoniou,
  • Inma Aznar,
  • Alessandro Broglia,
  • Alexandra Papanikolaou,
  • Yves Van der Stede,
  • Gabriele Zancanaro,
  • Helen Clare Roberts

DOI
https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2021.6632
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 19, no. 6
pp. n/a – n/a

Abstract

Read online

Abstract EFSA received a mandate from the European Commission to assess the effectiveness of some of the control measures against diseases included in the Category A list according to Regulation (EU) 2016/429 on transmissible animal diseases (‘Animal Health Law’). This opinion belongs to a series of opinions where these control measures will be assessed, with this opinion covering the assessment of control measures for foot and mouth disease (FMD). In this opinion, EFSA and the AHAW Panel of experts review the effectiveness of: i) clinical and laboratory sampling procedures, ii) monitoring period and iii) the minimum radius of the protection and surveillance zones, and the minimum length of time the measures should be applied in these zones. The general methodology used for this series of opinions has been published elsewhere; nonetheless, the transmission kernels used for the assessment of the minimum radius of the protection zone of 3 km and of the surveillance zone of 10 km are shown. Several scenarios for which these control measures had to be assessed were designed and agreed prior to the start of the assessment. The monitoring period of 21 days was assessed as effective, and it was concluded that the protection and the surveillance zones comprise > 99% of the infections from an affected establishment if transmission occurred. Recommendations, provided for each of the scenarios assessed, aim to support the European Commission in the drafting of further pieces of legislation, as well as for plausible ad hoc requests in relation to FMD.

Keywords