Prevalence of Foot and Mouth disease outbreaks in Egypt and other African countries

Abstract

Foot and mouth disease is endemic in nearly all countries of Africa. The highest prevalence of FMD was detected in Mauritius and Comoros while the lowest prevalence was reported in Mozambique, Namibia, Angola, Malawi, South Africa, Mauritania, Botswana, and Uganda. Serotype A was circulated in 11 African countries. The results showed that serotype A was more prevalent in the northern and eastern parts of Africa than in the southern and western parts. The highest prevalence of serotype A was found in Algeria, Egypt, and Tunisia, while the lowest prevalence was observed in Uganda. Co-circulation of serotype A with other serotypes has been observed in some countries, such as Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Sudan, Zambia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Kenya. This is likely due to the illegal movement of livestock between these countries. Serotype O was the most predominant serotype in Africa. The results found that serotype O was more prevalent in the northern, eastern, and western parts of Africa than in the southern part. The highest prevalence of serotype O was recorded in Mauritius and Comoros, while the lowest prevalence was found in Eritrea, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, and Zambia. Unlike Serotype A and O, SAT1 was distributed in 6 African countries. The results revealed that serotype SAT1 was more prevalent in the eastern and southern parts of Africa than in the western and northern parts. The highest prevalence of serotype SAT1 was reported in Zimbabwe, while the lowest prevalence was in Botswana and South Africa. the study also found that the circulating serotype SAT1 was the same genetically in Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Kenya, and South Africa. This suggests that the virus is being transmitted between these countries, either through the illegal movement of livestock or through the movement of wild animals. Serotype SAT2 was widely distributed across African countries. The highest probability of infection of serotype SAT2 was found in Egypt, while the lowest probability of infection was observed in Mozambique, Angola, Namibia, Malawi, Zambia, Mauritania, Botswana, and South Africa. SAT3 serotype being the lowest circulating serotype of FMDV in Africa, it was distributed only in 3 African countries. The results stated that serotype SAT3 was only found in three African countries: Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Based on the raster risk map, northern, eastern, and southern African countries were determined to have the highest predicted risk of FMD spatial occurrence during the study period.