Head of Rosselkhoznadzor Sergey Dankvert urged the veterinary service of Kyrgyzstan to prevent the import of a new foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) serotype SAT-2. Press service of the Russian federal service reported following negotiations with the director of the veterinary service under the Ministry of Agriculture of Kyrgyzstan Ashirbai Zhusupov.
«The head of Rosselkhoznadzor called on the veterinary service of Kyrgyzstan to pay special attention to the issue of prevention of the import of a new FMD serotype SAT-2, which is rapidly spreading in the Middle East and Western Asia, and to prepare for preventive work in advance,» the statement says.
The foot and mouth disease virus serotype SAT-2 (South Africa Territories 2) circulates in the wild in Africa. This strain caused FMD outbreaks in 2000 in Saudi Arabia and in 2012 in Palestine. In 2023, this serotype began to spread beyond the African continent. FMD outbreaks of this serotype have been registered in Turkey, Jordan and Iraq this year.
Rosselkhoznadzor experts emphasize that this strain is exotic for the Eurasian continent, including the Russian Federation, and its import into the country may threaten the loss of FMD free status and product export restrictions. There are no outbreaks of foot and mouth disease at the moment in Russia, the service noted. But there is a danger that a new type of foot-and-mouth disease will enter the territories of states bordering the Russian Federation.
According to experts, this strain demonstrates more aggressive infectious activity compared to epizootic isolates of other FMD serotypes.
