The impact of live animal importation on the epizootiology of foot-and-mouth disease in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia imports annually more than 6 millions live ruminants for slaughter. The majority of these animals are imported from countries where foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is enzootic. Serotypes of FMD virus not incorporated in the vaccine currently used in Saudi Arabia (e.g. SAT1 and SAT2) are prevalent in some of these exporting countries, and in others, the prevalent serotypes of FMD virus are not routinely typed. The previous exposure of imported animals to field FMD virus in the countries of origin has been confirmed by the detection of precipitating antibodies against virus infection associated (VIA) antigen and neutralizing antibodies against serotypes O, A, C and/or Asia1 of FMD virus in the sera of some imported animals. However, no isolation of FMD carrier virus could be made from 209 proband samples collected from sheep and goats imported from countries where FMD is enzootic. The significance of the obtained results is discussed. Particular emphasis has been placed on the possibility of importing either carrier animals which might act as potential source of infection or subclinically infected animals which might actively excrete FMD virus. In addition recommendations are made to reduce the risks of introducing exotic FMD virus strains to the Kingdom through live animal importation.