Elimination of foot-and-mouth disease in South America: lessons and challenges

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly transmissible and economically devastating disease of cloven-hoofed livestock. Although vaccines are available and have been instrumental in eliminating the disease from most of the South American animal population, viral circulation still persists in some countries and areas, posing a threat to the advances of the last 60 years by the official veterinary services with considerable support of the livestock sectors. The importance of the disease for the social and economic development of the American continent led to the establishment in 1951 of the Pan American Centre for Foot-and-Mouth Disease (PANAFTOSA), which has been providing technical cooperation to countries for the elimination of the disease. The first FMD national elimination programmes were established in South America around the 1960s and 1970s. To advance the regional elimination efforts in the 1980s, countries agreed on a Plan of Action 1988–2009 of the Hemispheric Program for the Eradication of Foot-and-Mouth Disease. The Plan of Action 1988–2009 did not reach the goal of elimination from the continent; and a new Plan of Action 2011–2020 was developed in 2010 based on the experience acquired by the countries and PANAFTOSA during the past 60 years. This plan is now being implemented; several challenges are still to be overcome to ensure the elimination of FMD from the Americas by 2020, however, the goal is achievable.