Minister announces AL is free of foot-and-mouth disease.
The Minister of Agriculture, Antônio Andrade, announced this Sunday (18) that Alagoas is among the eight Brazilian states that will receive, through normative instructions, recognition from the federal government as a foot-and-mouth disease-free zone. Today, the document recognizing northern Pará as a disease-free area was signed. The states of Ceará, Maranhão, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Piauí and Rio Grande do Norte will also become part of the free zone.
Alagoas247 The expectation is that the Minister of Agriculture, Antônio Andrade, will come to Alagoas by the end of the month to sign the document guaranteeing recognition. The last case of the disease in the state was recorded 15 years ago.
Among the criteria established by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA) for states to be classified nationally as foot-and-mouth disease-free zones with vaccination, one of them was animal serology, which was carried out between April 2012 and March 2013, with the aim of confirming the absence of foot-and-mouth disease virus circulation. Alagoas was one of the first to conclude the epidemiological investigation without any cases of foot-and-mouth disease detected by field research.
Following recognition by the Ministry of Agriculture, the next step is to submit a request to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) seeking international approval for the new areas. The request will be made in October, and the expectation is that the OIE certificate will be obtained in May 2014. Brazil's goal is to obtain OIE-free status by 2015.
With the inclusion of these eight states, 99% of the cattle and buffalo herd and 78% of the national territory are now free of the disease. Previously, 89% of the herd was immune and 60% of the territory was free of the fever.
According to Guilherme Marques, director of the Animal Health Department at the Ministry of Agriculture, the municipalities in Amazonas that have not yet been certified should move to medium-risk areas in the coming days.
Northern Pará and the other states about to be declared free of foot-and-mouth disease were also considered to be at medium risk for the disease until this Sunday. The following states are already certified as disease-free areas with vaccination: Acre, Bahia, Espírito Santo, Goiás, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul, Rondônia, São Paulo, Sergipe, and Tocantins.
The certified areas also include the Federal District and the municipalities of Guajará and Boca do Acre, in Amazonas, all recognized as free of foot-and-mouth disease with vaccination. The state of Santa Catarina is the only area in Brazil considered free of the disease without the need for vaccination, since 2007.
In Brazil, the last outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease was detected in 2006 in Mato Grosso do Sul and Paraná.
With gazetaweb.com and press office