History of Foot-and-mouth disease in North African countries

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly infectious and contagious transboundary viral disease of domesticated and wild cloven-hoofed animals. Wide prevalence of FMD in Asia and Africa associated with huge economic losses to livestock farming and industry prompted global concern. The present review summarizes the state of the art research in epidemiology, diagnosis, and surveillance of FMD in the North African countries. Even if the situation varies across the North African states, FMD is still a key factor affecting livestock production in this part of the world. Historically, 4 serotypes have circulated in North Africa (O, A, SAT2, and C) with type O being the most prevalent serotype, followed by serotype A. However, the rapid spread of SAT2 lineages from Libya to Egypt in 2012 and the O lineages from Libya to Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco between 2014 and 2015 demonstrated the need for a robust surveillance system to detect and respond effectively to exotic infections. Emergence and re-emergence of FMD virus genotypes/lineages have been detected engendering the need to replace vaccine strains quite frequently.