TY - JOUR
T1 - High seroprevalence of Foot and Mouth Disease in Laos
T2 - Call for nationwide vaccination campaigns and disease surveillance
AU - Xaydalasouk, Kinnaly
AU - Innoula, Nouna
AU - Putthana, Vannaphone
AU - Chanthavongsa, Korakan
AU - Snoeck, Chantal J.
AU - Hübschen, Judith M.
AU - Oudomphone, Phommy
AU - Chan, Bouangeun
AU - Muller, Claude P.
AU - Black, Antony P.
AU - Pommasichan, Sisavath
AU - Pauly, Maude
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful for the commitment of the staff and students from the Faculty of Agriculture and from the IVET School Xiengkhouang in collecting animal samples and administrating the questionnaires. We would like to express our very great appreciation to the participating staff from the Provincial and District Agriculture and Forestry Offices for their constructive suggestions during the planning of the sample collection and also for their precious support during the fieldwork. We also thank the village chiefs and the primary animal health workers of the villages for their support and pleasant welcome. Mrs. Bounta Vongphachannh, Latdavone Khenkha and Vilaysone Khounvisith performed or supervised part of the laboratory analyses. The authors wish to thank Ulla Muller, Carole Weis, Vilaysone Khounvisith, Phonethipsavanh Nouanthong and the administrative staff of Institut Pasteur du Laos for providing valuable logistic and technical support. We would also like to express our gratitude towards the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Lao PDR for approving the study. Finally, we are grateful to all study participants. This study was funded by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, Luxembourg (project 'Lao Luxembourg Partnership for Research and Capacity Building in Infectious Disease Surveillance II').
Funding Information:
We are grateful for the commitment of the staff and students from the Faculty of Agriculture and from the IVET School Xiengkhouang in collecting animal samples and administrating the questionnaires. We would like to express our very great appreciation to the participating staff from the Provincial and District Agriculture and Forestry Offices for their constructive suggestions during the planning of the sample collection and also for their precious support during the fieldwork. We also thank the village chiefs and the primary animal health workers of the villages for their support and pleasant welcome. Mrs. Bounta Vongphachannh, Latdavone Khenkha and Vilaysone Khounvisith performed or supervised part of the laboratory analyses. The authors wish to thank Ulla Muller, Carole Weis, Vilaysone Khounvisith, Phonethipsavanh Nouanthong and the administrative staff of Institut Pasteur du Laos for providing valuable logistic and technical support. We would also like to express our gratitude towards the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Lao PDR for approving the study. Finally, we are grateful to all study participants. This study was funded by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, Luxembourg (project 'Lao Luxembourg Partnership for Research and Capacity Building in Infectious Disease Surveillance II').
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Wiley-VCH GmbH
PY - 2021/7
Y1 - 2021/7
N2 - Foot and mouth disease (FMD) virus remains enzootic in Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) due to insufficient control measures, including low vaccination coverage. We assessed virus epidemiology and evaluated knowledge, attitude and practice of Lao farmers and animal health stakeholders towards FMD to support politics in devising evidence-based control measures. Sera were collected from 972 domestic ruminants in three provinces of Lao PDR: Vientiane Capital, Vientiane and Xiengkhouang provinces. Seroprevalence of antibodies directed against non-structural proteins of FMD virus was assessed using a commercial ELISA. Positive sera were further characterized by detecting antibodies directed against the structural proteins of FMD serotypes O, A and Asia 1. Information about farm management, biosecurity practices, livestock trade, and past FMD outbreaks was obtained. Overall 35% (340/972) of the ruminants had antibodies against FMD virus with a similar seroprevalence in each province. Seroprevalence depended significantly on the ruminant species (p <.001): 61% of buffaloes, but only 41% of cattle and 15% of goats were seropositive. While antibodies against FMD serotype Asia 1 were absent, 87% (297/340) of the seropositive animals had antibodies against FMD serotype O and 32% (110/340) against FMD serotype A. Many seropositive animals (31%) had antibodies against both serotypes O and A. The majority of the farmers could name the symptoms of FMD and the susceptible animal species. Although many had likely observed FMD outbreaks in their herd and were aware of FMD vaccines, only few vaccinated their animals. This study confirms that FMD remains enzootic in at least three provinces of Lao PDR where vaccination coverage is low. It also shows the relevance of nationwide active and passive disease surveillance, as well as of vaccination campaigns using bivalent FMD vaccines and targeting all susceptible animal species.
AB - Foot and mouth disease (FMD) virus remains enzootic in Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) due to insufficient control measures, including low vaccination coverage. We assessed virus epidemiology and evaluated knowledge, attitude and practice of Lao farmers and animal health stakeholders towards FMD to support politics in devising evidence-based control measures. Sera were collected from 972 domestic ruminants in three provinces of Lao PDR: Vientiane Capital, Vientiane and Xiengkhouang provinces. Seroprevalence of antibodies directed against non-structural proteins of FMD virus was assessed using a commercial ELISA. Positive sera were further characterized by detecting antibodies directed against the structural proteins of FMD serotypes O, A and Asia 1. Information about farm management, biosecurity practices, livestock trade, and past FMD outbreaks was obtained. Overall 35% (340/972) of the ruminants had antibodies against FMD virus with a similar seroprevalence in each province. Seroprevalence depended significantly on the ruminant species (p <.001): 61% of buffaloes, but only 41% of cattle and 15% of goats were seropositive. While antibodies against FMD serotype Asia 1 were absent, 87% (297/340) of the seropositive animals had antibodies against FMD serotype O and 32% (110/340) against FMD serotype A. Many seropositive animals (31%) had antibodies against both serotypes O and A. The majority of the farmers could name the symptoms of FMD and the susceptible animal species. Although many had likely observed FMD outbreaks in their herd and were aware of FMD vaccines, only few vaccinated their animals. This study confirms that FMD remains enzootic in at least three provinces of Lao PDR where vaccination coverage is low. It also shows the relevance of nationwide active and passive disease surveillance, as well as of vaccination campaigns using bivalent FMD vaccines and targeting all susceptible animal species.
KW - Lao People's Democratic Republic
KW - buffaloes
KW - cattle
KW - goats
KW - picornaviridae
KW - ruminants
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85096684591&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/tbed.13895
DO - 10.1111/tbed.13895
M3 - Article
C2 - 33113242
AN - SCOPUS:85096684591
SN - 1865-1674
VL - 68
SP - 2345
EP - 2352
JO - Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
JF - Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
IS - 4
ER -