During 19 and 20 November 2012 a foot and mouth disease (FMD) simulation exercise in real time has been organized in the region of Castilla La Mancha with the colaboration between , the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment (MAGRAMA), the Autonomous Community of Castilla-La Mancha and our group SUAT-VISAVET.

In that exercise, clinical symptoms compatible with the disease have been reproduced in a private cattle breeding farm located in the town of Talavera de la Reina (Toledo. The activities of different services involved have been monitoring, from the private veterinarians, veterinary services from MAGRAMA, sample taking and sending to National Reference Laboratory (LCV Algete) and the communication of suspicion.

This simulation exercise had been previously reported to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the European Commission.

This field simulation exercise, aims mainly at reviewing and verifying the National and Autonomous emergency plans, the control measures and the eradication of a FMD outbreak in Spain with a view to identifying improvements to be made in the plans, instructions, structures and procedures.

The specific objectives of this simulation exercise are the following:

1. Evaluate the coordination between the MAGRAMA and the Autonomous Communities (CCAA) when facing a notification of an FMD outbreak in Spain;
2. Evaluate the existence and/or the efficiency of the MAGRAMA and CCAA contingency plans for FMD;
3. Evaluate the veterinary services capacity of the CCAA to identify the farms susceptible to be affected by an FMD outbreak;
4. Evaluate the veterinary services actions of the CCAA in case they need to send potentially FMD infected samples to a laboratory;
5. Evaluate the response of the National reference laboratory in case of reception of the FMD samples.

Yesterday afternoon (20th of November) the field simulation ended with a press conference where the Deputy Director General of Primary Production Sanitary Safety, Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment (MAGRAMA), the Director General of Agriculture and Livestock of Castilla-La Mancha and Prof. Jose Manuel Sanchez-Vizcaino, explained the key points of the exercise.

The new in the media: OIE / MAGRAMA / Castilla-La Mancha / Europapress / 20minutos / Qué / La Tribuna de Toledo / Terra / teinteresa.es / Agro información / La cerca / Radio Surco / Ferias y mercados

Almudena Sánchez Matamoros  & José Manuel Sánchez-Vizcaíno
   November 16th, 2012. SUAT-UCM 

European Commission has carried out the modification of the restriction zones for Bluetongue serotypes in Europe. The changes in the new distribution of Bluetongue affect to Spain. See “Most of Spain declared free of serotype 8 of Bluetongue”

 
Fig.: Restriction areas for different serotypes of Bluetongue in Europe as of November, 2012
Source: European Commission

Almudena Sánchez Matamoros  & José Manuel Sánchez-Vizcaíno
  November 14th, 2012. SUAT-UCM

On 14 November 2012, Spain has proceeded to declare itself free of serotype 8 of the bluetongue virus (BTV), except the region of Campo de Gibraltar (Cadiz). This action is performed according to Regulation 1266/2007 and Directive 2000/75/EC, after three years of absence of virus circulation of this serotype in Spain. The appropriate strategy for control and eradication of the disease from the entrance of this serotype in Spain in 2008 allowed control the BTV, declaring the last outbreak of serotype 8 in Spain (excluding the region of Campo de Gibraltar) in February 2009. Highlight that this region will expect that reach this status in 2013, as reported the last outbreak of serotype 8 in November 2010.

The restriction zones of Spain as of November 2012 are: Canary and Balearic Island are considered free of disease; Spain mainland would be considered restriction zone for serotype 1, four provinces in southern Spain also have this category for serotype 4 and the region of Campo de Gibraltar also includes serotype 8. 

Fig. 6: Bluetongue restriction zones in Spain as of November 2012. Source: MAGRAMA, 2012.

This advance in the fight against BTV relaxes restrictions on exports of cattle, sheep and goats from Spain.

Links: https://servicio.mapama.gob.es/rasve/

Almudena Sánchez Matamoros  & José Manuel Sánchez-Vizcaíno
November 7th, 2012. SUAT-UCM

On November 6, the first outbreak of bluetongue virus of vector activity 2012 – 2013 has been declared on a bovine sentinel farm located in Malpartida de Plasencia (Caceres, Spain). Confirmation of disease has been carried out by the Central Veterinary Laboratory Algete indicating that this is an outbreak of serotype 1. This fact implies the recurrence of the disease in Spain in 2012 in a restricted zone of the disease, so that no restrictions are set on the animal movements.

 
Fig. 8: First outbreak of bluetongue virus in Spain in the new period of vector activity 2012-2013. 
Source: Red de Alerta Sanitaria (MAGRAMA).

Almudena Sánchez Matamoros  & José Manuel Sánchez-Vizcaíno
October 30th, 2012. SUAT-UCM

Evolution of Bluetongue in Spain in the period of vector activity of 2011-2012.

In the period of vector activity of 2011 - 2012 (October to March) have been reported twelve outbreaks of bluetongue (BTV) in Spain. The serotypes responsible of the outbreak have been the serotype 1 and 4, not finding any outbreak of serotype 8 in this period (the last outbreak in 2010) (Figure 7). Nine outbreaks of serotype 1 have been declared between October and January. These outbreaks have been detected in sentinel farms in the province of Caceres and on the border in the province of Salamanca, where outbreaks have been detected in the recent years. From this date has not shown the presence of further outbreaks of the disease. In addition, the serotype 4 was detected in March 2012 within the restriction zone for serotypes 1, 4 and 8 in the provinces of Huelva and Seville, highlighting its detection in wildlife.

  

Fig. 7:  Bluetongue outbreaks in Spain in the period of vector activity of 2011-2012. 
Source: Based on information from Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment MAGRAMA

In addition, this period was marked by the modification of the Order ARM/3373/2010 by the Order ARM/1614/2011. This Order established a model voluntary vaccination since July 31, 2011. Therefore, the important awareness of veterinarians and farmers of the benefits of vaccination as a control measure for the disease and their appropriate application has allowed to continue a favorable epidemiological evolution, decreasing the number of outbreaks in this period (table 2).