Review of the Occurrence of FMD in Israel and a Clinical Description of the Outbreak of the Disease in 2021

Abstract

In January 2021, Israel encountered an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in several ruminant herds in the Galilee, in the north of the country. Clinical signs such as eating disorders, fever, oral lesions, drooling, rise in body temperature, lesions around the hoof, limping and mortality of young kids and calves were recognized. Tiger heart was seen mainly in autopsied kids. Samples were collected and sent to the Kimron Veterinary Institute in accordance with guidelines for Foot and Mouth disease (FMD). Twenty herds belonging to fifteen villages were identified as being infected by FMD either by clinical signs and/or laboratory tests. In addition a single wild Fallow Deer and a mountain gazelle were found dead in the area which proved positive for FMD. Epidemiological investigations were carried out and the FMD virus Type O was found to be the cause of this outbreak. Suspicion for O/PanAsia-2 strain was considered.  DNA sequencing in the village from Rosenfeld (Zar’it), Eilon Richania and in Had Ness identified sequencing differences in three nucleotides from the O/PanAsia-2 strain. This article differs from others published on outbreaks of FMD in Israel as it concentrates on the findings of the outbreak in the field, describing the development of the disease as it progressed. No other descriptions of this nature have been prepared for previous outbreaks in Israel.

Keywords: Foot and Mouth Disease; FMD; Serotype; Mortality; Outbreak.

Introduction

FMD is a highly infectious viral disease that spreads very rapidly among cloven-hoofed animals (1, 2) causing major economic damage (3). The virus has the ability to spread 
through aerosol and through direct contact between animals. Furthermore, it may also spread by adhering to objects and contaminating clothes, vehicles, trucks (fomites), by humans working on farms or visiting them. (4).

FMDV belongs to the Picornaviridae type Aphtovirus. It is a small non-enveloped single-stranded positive-sense RNA virus. More than 80 subtypes have been identified with 7 serotypes (5) (Table 1).

Among serotypes, O and A are the most common causative agents of FMDV outbreaks globally. Vaccination plays a predominant role in the control and prevention of FMDV (6).
One serotype does not protect against another (6).

The most prevalent serotype in Israel is Oise (1) (Table 2). It is important to note that the serotype Asia-1 has been diagnosed only twice in the last 25 years. The last time that type A (subtype A22) was diagnosed in Israel was in 2017 (7). In 2009, a strain resembling type A (Iran 05) was diagnosed in Israel (8). This strain was also responsible for an outbreak of  FMD in Bahrein, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Liberia and Turkey (8). The virus was reported again in Bahrein in 2006 (9).

For this study the authors set out to describe the outbreak of FMD in Israel in 2021 concentrates findings concerning the progress of the outbreak in the field, describing the development of the disease as it progressed. No other descriptions of this nature have been prepared for previous outbreaks in Israel.

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