Review of the status of foot and mouth disease and approach to control/eradication in Europe and Central Asia.

The authors describe the situation of foot and mouth disease (FMD) in Europe over the past 70 years and analyse the origin of the disease and methods of control, particularly since preventive vaccination was banned in Europe in the early 1990s. Since then, and until 2001, despite several incursions of the virus, the disease has always been contained and eradicated rapidly. Therefore, the ban on vaccination did not result in an increase of FMD outbreaks. However, the massive outbreak which took place in 2001 in the United Kingdom (UK) with 2,030 outbreaks, raised questions on the policy utilised to date to control the disease in Europe. In future, the utilisation of ring vaccination should be considered as an alternative to mass culling of large numbers of animals. Based on the recent source of introduction of the virus, the authors review the lines of defence which should be reinforced to reduce the risk of further introduction of the disease. The FMD situation in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is also examined. The situation in the Central Asian Republics and the Caucasian region deteriorated after the collapse of the Soviet Union, despite the continuous effort of Russia to support these countries. International support is needed to prevent FMD from becoming endemic in the region.