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Private veterinary assistance is urgently needed in the war against foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), but to truly enable this, official protocol must change. This was the message from various government and private officials during the Limpopo FMD Workshop hosted by the Ruminant Veterinarian Association of South Africa (RuVasa) in Polokwane on 20 January.
Dr Shaun Morris, member of the Ministerial Task Team on FMD and director of Octavoscene, said currently FMD statistics looks like a space shuttle launch. “We need urgency. This virus has become cattle adapted and it no longer needs buffalo to maintain it. We need to keep it out of (disease free) buffalo. I promise you, I will fight for that.”
Current rules and realities are destroying lives
Dr Morris said the disease has destroyed people on a psychological level and devastated them financially. And to add insult to injury, it is almost impossible to successfully receive the necessary government support through a Section 20 application in terms of the Animal Diseases Act, 1984 (Act 35 of 1984). “Section 20 applications are almost impossible. The people responsible often don’t have the scientific knowledge to allow meaningful research.”
While South Africa’s current policies need to change, Dr Morris told farmers to meanwhile have faith in vaccinations. “Vaccination saved lives during the Covid pandemic, and it will save cattle populations too. I thank the private companies who stepped up to secure vaccine supply.” He included the Argentine, Turkish and other manufacturers who are busy taking care of this matter. “Vaccination works. The farms that have vaccinated pre-emptively had virtually no sick animals. One animal on one farm. That’s it.”
However, the disease remains state-controlled and the state have thus far failed to provide sufficient stock. Another failure is the fact that South Africa’s borders are imaginary lines. “Cattle move freely between countries,” he said, adding that communal farmers near the Kruger National Park have no access to water tankers and no real support. Furthermore, cattle were even found 70km into the Kruger National Park. “They did not arrive by truck – they walked.” He added that this was unacceptable as it posed a risk for the spread of FMD and other diseases.
Dr Morris said while the current “draconian laws” are hampering the fight against FMD, pre-emptive vaccinations and biosecurity measures do work. He also added that milk carried the highest viral load and impacted calves. “Calves suffer because their mothers are sick.”
Why Limpopo matters
Dr Dario Cremona, chairperson of RuVasa, said Limpopo was critical in the battle against FMD as the province borders three regions where FMD is endemic – Zimbabwe, Botswana, and the Kruger National Park. In total, 70% of all buffalo farms are located in the province. The stakes are extremely high as a buffalo herd cannot get rid of FMD once an animal within the herd is infected. It remains a carrier.
Dr Cremona said to overcome the disease, a stronger bond is needed between state and private veterinarians as well as livestock owners. “Together we can overcome the disease and return to a province that is free of FMD.”
Dr Moses Mabunda, director of veterinary services at the Limpopo Department of Agriculture and Land Reform, agreed. While the numbers tend to fluctuate, the department employs around 30 vets and 120 animal health technicians. “This is not enough for the province and is a problem we need to work on every day.”
At the time of the workshop, Limpopo had 11 confirmed cases of FMD and they were awaiting the results of another 58 suspected cases. Sekhukhune was the only municipal district that had not seen any FMD cases recently, Dr Mabunda said. One of the serious concerns in the province is the fact that communal cattle tested positive for FMD about 50km from the Mara research station.
However, he was not disheartened as the province was in a better position than other provinces such as KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. “If we work hard (in Limpopo) we can resolve and close this issue in six months.”
One of the province’s major advantages was the fact that it started sourcing its own vaccines a long time ago. However, they currently only had 10 000 vials left, Dr Mabunda confessed. “We ordered an additional 49 500 vials last October, but we are still waiting for delivery as the Botswana Vaccine Institute is overwhelmed.”
Dr Mabunda said all stakeholders needed to work together. That was the only way in which the disease would be beaten as quickly as possible. He closed his speech saying: “The department officials are your servants. Please phone me if they are not working with you.”
Buffalo issues highlighted
Dr Ampie Viljoen, a wildlife veterinarian, spoke about the impact of FMD on wildlife – specifically buffalo. “We are trying to protect the disease-free buffalo industry.”
While other game is also affected by FMD, it is a bigger issue in buffalo as disease-free buffaloes need to be protected. Once a single animal in a disease-free buffalo herd is exposed to FMD, it remains in the herd. Buffalo in the red-line districts (the veterinary cordon fence) are persistent FMD carriers, Dr Viljoen explained. However, there were 3 200 buffalo farms in South Africa where farmers were able to breed disease-free buffalo that do not carry diseases such as FMD and snotsiekte (malignant catarrhal fever). Fifty percent of these herds are found in Limpopo, and most of them are on land that is marginal and not suited for traditional farming.
The buffalo industry is worth R40 billion per year and certainly is no small industry. “The buffalo industry provides a lot of specialised jobs. If these people were to lose their jobs, they don’t have other options,” Dr Viljoen said.
Great strides in vaccine options
Dr David Gerber, CEO of Dunevax Biotech, praised the Ministerial Task Team on FMD for the development of a target product profile (TPP), which defines the characteristics a vaccine used in South Africa must meet. “This was a major collaborative effort by top scientists in the country, who contributed countless unpaid hours because they believed in the importance of defining these standards.”
The Monday prior to the workshop, Dr Gerber received the import permits for the first 1,5 million doses of Dollvet vaccine. He also received confirmation that the vaccine had been matched at Pirbright against the available strains from Southern Africa (WOAH Pool 6). Dr Gerber requested the matching last year and received the results yesterday. Unfortunately, no SAT3 strains are currently available at Pirbright – thus no matching against this strain could be done.
Dollvet has the ability to produce 150 million doses of FMD vaccine per year for South Africa, Dr Gerber said, adding that SAT1, SAT2 and SAT3 strains will be covered by these vaccines. “South Africa is unlikely to need that many, but it demonstrates that we can supply vaccines at scale. Other suppliers, like Argentina, likely have similar capacity.”
Biogénesis Bagó
Dr Rodolfo Bellinzoni, executive director of Innovation at Biogénesis Bagó, said modern vaccine producers faced significant challenges to produce vaccines that were both effective and safe. “For FMD, vaccines must support disease control programmes and eventually enable a return to FMD-free status without vaccination. This requires the use of DIVA (differentiating infected from vaccinated animals) compatible vaccines.”
Furthermore, the vaccine must be effective against strains currently circulating, while also providing protection against new variants that may emerge. “The FMD virus mutates constantly, generating new variants, which makes vaccine development particularly challenging. What we target today may be different tomorrow, so vaccines must ensure broad and durable protection.”
Dr Bellinzoni said his company’s strategy was to work with high-potency vaccines that allow for cross-protection. This means a single vaccine can protect against multiple variants circulating at any given time.
Over the past five to ten years FMD viruses have been spreading faster, moving across countries and continents. “For example, in Algeria, SAT2 type 5 virus was detected – previously considered insignificant for more than 70 years,” Dr Bellinzoni said, adding that this highlights that viral circulation is more complex than previously thought. “One challenge is that reference laboratories do not always receive enough samples to provide a complete epidemiological picture. What we see is often just the tip of the iceberg.”
This uncertainty reinforces the need for high-potency, cross-protective vaccines. “Without them, vaccination programmes risk failure.”
Private veterinarians rise to the challenge
Dr David Pretorius, owner of Buffalo Analytics, spoke about a system that he and other private veterinarians started developing five years ago, after Wildlife Ranching South Africa (WRSA) approached them for assistance in to solve the issues that industry was facing with buffaloes and the spread of disease. “Farmers were mostly were struggling with the administrative processes around moving and testing buffalo in order to obtain disease-free status. This was due to a lack of state resources and capacity.”
Dr Pretorius’ team started investigating the relationship between state and industry – the regulatory processes, testing protocols, and how the system actually functions. “Two years into this work, after extensive research and engagement with the state, we identified an opportunity to help manage the authorised private veterinarian (APV) system. At that time, there were only ten authorised private veterinarians in the country. I was fortunate to be one of them – the first – and these veterinarians were the only private vets allowed to test buffalo without the presence of the state.”
Dr Pretorius said this was a major achievement. While many people said this could not be done, they were able to do it. “Through these processes, we learned how the state functions, how regulations work, and where the system breaks down.”
Knowledge is power
Farmers needed to be armed with knowledge, Dr Pretorius said, especially during this current crisis and the possible implications if disease-free buffalo herds were infected with FMD. In the Limpopo Bushveld there are about 1 455 buffalo farms (51,8% of the country’s national buffalo herd). “This makes disease control extremely difficult once an outbreak occurs.”
Dr Pretorius said the disease literally spreads like wildfire. That is why it remains critical that people should not move animals. It can be equated to carrying a flaming torch from a wildfire and taking it to a secondary location. “The spread resembles a trail fire – people unknowingly moving infected animals or materials.”
Dr Pretorius said the manner in which they tackle FMD was to “backburn”. “In disease control, backburning is vaccination. We build an immunity barrier based on vaccination.” Just like in the instance of fighting a fire it did not make sense to start vaccinating in the middle of the infected zone. Rather, they drew a circle of about 50km wide around the farm and started vaccinating the other farms in that area.
Every evening, they take stock to see what the current state of affairs is. From there they then make decisions for the best strategy to implement the following day. Through this process the team is building an immunity barrier around cases. “This takes between 14 and 21 days, and the distance of that barrier depends on wind, humidity, density, and animal movement.”
Vaccination priorities
While everyone matters, not every animal can be vaccinated at once. That is why priorities have been identified. If 10 million doses arrive tomorrow, where do they go first? That is where the vaccine priority index comes in. It considers:
- Distance from confirmed and suspected outbreaks.
- Presence of reservoir hosts (wildlife).
- Presence of amplifiers (pigs).
- Animal density.
- High-mortality risk (e.g. farms with many calves or stud animals).
“We’re not deciding who gets vaccinated – we’re deciding who is first in the queue,” Dr Pretorius said, adding that it is like dominoes. “We remove the domino that will have the biggest impact on stopping the chain reaction.”
It would be senseless if a total movement ban were implemented at this point, he said. “If we did not have any auctions or sales for six months, it would devastate the economy. Instead, we need controlled, traceable movement which is possible through technology. If every movement is logged, it becomes part of a traceable chain. Better data means fewer blanket movement bans.” This is where traceability systems, such as Buffalo Analytics, can play a critical role. – Susan Marais, Plaas Media
