SA resumes FMD strain submissions to global reference lab in boost to disease control strategy

AGRICULTURE Minister John Steenhuisen has announced that South Africa has resumed submitting Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) field strains to the Pirbright Institute in the United Kingdom, marking the first time since 2011 that the country has sent samples to the global authority.

- YOGASHEN PILLAY

Steenhuisen said the Pirbright Institute serves as the World Reference Laboratory for FMD.

While the institute does not manufacture vaccines, it plays a critical role in determining whether vaccines used globally match the virus strains currently circulating in the field.

Steenhuisen noted that over the past year, the Department of Agriculture had already sent various materials to the Pirbright laboratory as part of routine sharing among World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) reference laboratories, most recently in the last quarter of 2023.

"The reason WOAH reference laboratories share circulating strains of pathogens is to update each other's catalogues for reference purposes," he said.