Quote from Paula Menzies on 01-08-2024, 21:10

From Nikolaos Kordalis from Greece (email, August 1, 2024):

I am writing to you in order to report some interesting findings on PPR in my region(Corinth). 

Firstly, at the moment most of the animals at the two positive farms for PPR do not have the typical symptoms of the disease and both are sheep farms and are very close to each other [ https://maps.app.goo.gl/5QqQwp4KihqTtFts6 ] . The pin is between them. 

The most common symptom is diarrhea (not very severe and does not have any specific pattern)  and decreased appetite.   Nasal or oral or ocular discharge are profound only to a small proportion of the animals and after many days of diarrhea.  I personally examined 20  animals over 10 months of age (with or without diarrhea) and none of them had pyrexia or any other sign of disease except a decrease in BCS (<2,5) to animals with  consistent diarrhea. Thorax auscultation was normal or to be more precise without suspicious findings.    

At the farms I visited there were no ulcers or other lesions in the mouth to any animal dead or alive, with or without symptoms. 

Before diarrhea occurred, both farms reported sudden deaths to the young animals{ewes and rams 8-10months old (15/50 at the first farm and 30/200 at the second, the numbers are from the farmers' reports and not sure if 100% accurate)} and at the second farm almost all lambs died in the first week (the other farm had no lambs at the moment)}. Both farms reported huge numbers of deaths 7-10 days after the first deaths occured( 50/220 and 230/950, the numbers are from the farmers' reports and not sure if 100% accurate). 

Post-mortem findings to all sheep(sudden death) were severe pulmonary congestion and haemorrhage to small intestines, large intestines and abomasum. 

Unfortunately, due to strict biosecurity measures I could not take any photos. 

In response to me saying that the outbreak must be very scary, Nik replied:

Frankly, only farmers are that scared.  Authorities are sure for now that will stop the spread to the mainland soon.  Due to the well organised sampling, the previus experience of Blue Tongue Disease and the geographical isolation of the area, the local veterinary authorities managed to do the proper things really fast.
Police is really strict and nothing moves in or out the area unattended.  All flocks/herds  I personally visited for sampling were healthy and nothing suspicius happened there.  Hopefully, there will be no other farms infected in my area.

Nikolaos G. Kordalis

Quote from Paula Menzies on 02-08-2024, 19:41

I have created a Google map with the outbreaks in Greece and Romania and will update as I can, as this better explains the location of the outbreaks.

The situation in Romania as of August 1, 2024

FR4 reports 9 new outbreaks for a total of 43.  All of these outbreaks are in the same area as previous outbreaks and so don't represent a significant spread of the disease.  There are currently 219784 animals exposed with 4868 cases, 4799 deaths and 42 animals killed and disposed of (one outbreak).  We know that the intent is to euthanize / slaughter most / all of exposed sheep and goats.  This is a giant task - best wishes for a successful stomping out!

The situation in Greece as of August 2, 2024

FR12 reports 6 new outbreaks for a total of 34.  Several are in new locations and no statistics on cases or deaths are included with the information although there must be some syndromic evidence of infection or perhaps these are trace-in / trace-out flocks (i.e., epidemiologically associated with another outbreak with disease).  From the map, these outbreaks seem to include a large proportion of Greece.   There are currently 15506 animals exposed with 1843 cases and 453 deaths.

Quote from Paula Menzies on 06-08-2024, 18:54

The situation in Greece as of August 6, 2024

There are now 42 outbreaks of PPR in Greece as reported by WOAH.  To-date, 17,407 animals are exposed with 1959 cases and 455 deaths. There is no information yet on the original source of the outbreak, nor any other epidemiological information.  For the most part, the most recently reported outbreaks are in areas with previous outbreaks.  It is not surprising to see local contact between flocks although it is hoped with the restrictions on animal movement and other biosecurity measures, this contact slows to a trickle and stops.

FR13  - 1 new outbreak in Kalampaki in East Macedonia and Thrace.  This represents a new area east of Thessaloniki.

FR14 - 4 new outbreaks all part of previous outbreak centres geographically (Mesino and Kalochori).

FR15 - 3 new outbreaks, all in the Karteri region of Peloponnese region of Greece and close to previously reported outbreaks.

If any of our Greek colleagues wishes to share their experiences and thoughts, please do so by submitting to this forum topic or emailing me personally and I will post.

Quote from Paula Menzies on 06-08-2024, 21:30

The situation in Romania as of August 6, 2024

There are now 56 outbreaks in Romania as reported by WOAH.  There are 232,281 sheep and goats exposed to PPR in the reported outbreaks with 5109 cases and 4914 deaths reported as of August 6, 2024.

FR5 - 5 new outbreaks, 2 in Stejaru near previous outbreaks, 2 in Harsova which is about 30 km from previous outbreak centres and one in Balabancea, similarly in a new area about 30 km from other outbreak centres.   These outbreaks represent local spread and underlines the need to properly zone and restrict movement of all sheep and goats.

FR6 - 10 new outbreaks, most are in Stejaru as previously or nearby.  There is some spread outside of Stejaru.  There are, as yet, no more reports from western Romania on the border with Serbia (Clopodia).

As with Greece if any of our Romanian colleagues have information or experiences they can share, please do so.

Quote from Paula Menzies on 06-08-2024, 21:55

Syndromic surveillance for pneumo-enteritis syndrome which is highly suggestive of PPR

Given the spread of the outbreaks within Greece and Romania and the risk of trans-border spread, it is a good idea for all European veterinarians (and producers) to be on the outlook for PPR.  Below is a proposed case definition for pneumo-enteritis syndrome from Peter Roeder (an esteemed member of the team who eradicated Rinderpest).  This was shared with me by Jeff Mariner, an epidemiologist consulting with FAO on PPR eradication.

PNEUMO-ENTERITIS (PES) CASE DEFINITION

An outbreak of PES is characterized as a number of disease cases in a flock (in exceptional cases, an individual animal) in which the following clinical signs are present:

Bilateral, clear or purulent ocular and nasal discharges
Together with:
Fever, coughing and sneezing
AND one or more of the following:

• conjunctivitis
• difficulty breathing (dyspnoea)
• erosions (ulcers) in the epithelium of the mouth with or without a cheese-like coating on the epithelium
• diarrhea / dysentery
• death

Diseases fitting this description must be investigated by applying diagnostic testing suitable for the situation (rapid antigen tests, PCR, serology in recovered animals)

Quote from Paula Menzies on 08-08-2024, 18:27

The situation in Greece as of August 8, 2024

FR16 and FR 17 indicate there are currently 47 outbreaks of PPR.  New outbreaks are reported in Mega Pisto, Amouri, Kastraki, Lefka (new location in western Greece), and Astakos (new location in western Greece).  There are currently 18,855 animals exposed with 2049 cases and 476 deaths reported.

Press articles of interest

An article from Reuters published July 22 about the PPR outbreak in Greece, indicates that at that time, they did not know the source of the outbreak.  WOAH reports state also that the source is unknown or inconclusive.

An article from Politico published August 5, 2024 focusses on an interview of the Agriculture Minister of Greece on August 1, 2024.  An interesting quote from the article "The Greek agriculture minister said in a statement the current batch of infections results from live animals brought from Romania to Greece's central Thessaly region. The agricultural area was pummeled by storms and floods in September, which caused widespread damage to farming and drowned hundreds of thousands of animals."

Below is a machine translation of the article in the link published on August 1, 2024.  The red text is my emphasis:

Journalists' questions and Kostas Tsiaras' answers to the plague

August 1, 2024

Minister Costas Tsiaras received a barrage of questions from journalists attending today's press conference:

Interviewer: What went wrong and did we get to where we are?

Kostas Tsiaras: At the moment there is no proof, no real evidence, in relation to the movement of animals and how they may have carried the disease.

Obviously, it will not be easy to say anything without it at least being substantiated. It is at least recorded that there is a course of the disease involving animals that were found to have come from the country of Romania. But this has to be proven by the genotype of this virus and the samples we took. If the type of plague virus affecting Greek animals is the same and identical to the one that will be recorded in Romanian animals, then we can safely talk about the course of the disease.

But I want us to take into account the following: when we talk about a virus and especially the plague, the incubation time of this virus, that is, the time it may take from the moment an animal comes into contact with the virus until the moment it shows symptoms, is 22 days.

It is very likely that animals have been moved, which initially showed no symptoms at all. So to say anything right now is extremely premature. That is why we shall set up the Committee of Experts. The Commission will analyse all existing data in relation to the epidemiological course of the disease and the possible search for responsibilities, if and when there are responsibilities, they should be attributed, through a procedure that even provides for the submission of evidence to the Greek justice. But to talk about that right now I think is premature. I assure you that we will take every possible measure to fully trace the course of the disease, any attribution of responsibility.

Interviewer: Will the price of milk and meat be affected?

Kostas Tsiaras: "Safety" to eradicate the disease is created after 30 days from the finding of the last case. At the moment we cannot say what the impact on the market will be, nor how many animals will be killed.

There is a chance that we will have repercussions on the market, especially with the fact that travel is banned. I am in contact with Mr Theodorikakos so that we can intensify the controls.

Interviewer: Will there be an impact on feta exports?

Kostas Tsiaras: If the loss is limited to low levels, then we will not have a serious impact on exports. That is why we have taken all these measures. There are third countries that have been suffering from plague for years.

JOURNALIST: Didn't he sound the alarm from Turkey? Do we have IACS, so that we know exactly how many animals Greece has?

Kostas Tsiaras: There is freedom of movement of animals within the EU. Imports from third countries do not take place. The fact that there were recorded cases in the neighboring country yes rings a bell, but our tracing so far does not show Turkey.

Whether there are problems with recording through IACS is something we are aware of. As well as the problems with OPEKEPE in general, I have also discussed them with the European Commissioner. Our intention is to close this circle of doubt as soon as possible. To make real digitization and recording. This has been the Prime Minister's own mandate since he also visited the Ministry.

Interviewer: Could the epidemic have existed in Romania beforehand? Do you know if the animals were imported irregularly?

Kostas Tsiaras:  We do not have irregular animals in Greece. If anything happened, we will find out from the Commission that I told you. The disease in Romania has spread enormously, which is why so many killings have taken place. There was a letter from the Romanian side. We have stopped imports from Romania. The important thing is to contain and eradicate the disease. To protect livestock. And then support the livestock world.

Interviewer: Is there animal smuggling? Are animals imported for breeding? And how can this affect the PDO Feta brand?

Kostas Tsiaras: The cases in Elassona, which is the heart of feta production, are the big issue. Feta as a PDO product is a national product, not a simple exportable product. That is why we have great interest and concern.

The illegal imports of animals or Hellenizations or issues that generally raise questions, are issues that concern us and are a constant battle. Both now and from my predecessors.

Interviewer: Are there cases in Bulgaria?

Kostas Tsiaras: There is no announcement of a case from Bulgaria so far. The case must be notified to the European Union within 24 hours.

Interviewer: When does the alarm end?

Kostas Tsiaras: We are making a huge effort to trace animal movements. Animals went from Thessaly to 11 regions. No cases have been recorded in Western Greece and Epirus. But the 22 days of incubation of the virus must pass.

We will probably have another case recorded in another region today.

Interviewer: How much will be the compensation of farmers who have lost their herd? The planned 150 euros per animal, farmers say, is not enough.

Kostas Tsiaras: We should have a record of livestock first. We must do everything possible to eradicate the disease. It goes without saying that we will support the livestock world.

Interviewer: Tell us how you trace the disease.

George Stratakos: The tracing has been completed. There are single digit units left for us to visit yet. We are waiting for some answers today.

The farm in Larissa from which the problem started, is a farm with broodstock. This one was adjacent to several of the positive units. We are talking about breeding animals. The broodstock came from western Europe. The unit was adjacent to units that brought animals from Romania for fattening.

The transmissibility of the disease is very high. That is why we are imposing such a harsh measure as the killing of animals.

Unfortunately, the unit with the broodstock with the fattening units in Larissa was side by side. So we can't know now which animal was the first to carry the disease.

JOURNALIST: Will livestock farmers be part of the Ministry's model of cooperation with veterinarians, regions and other bodies?

Kostas Tsiaras: The first communication we made was with the breeders. Cooperation with breeders is very basic. We need to inform breeders. I want to say that cooperation with the livestock world is absolute. These people have suffered enormous damage. We'll see what happens next. The centre of effort is these people.

Interviewer: There is no training of breeders, no advice is given. Will the breeding veterinarian, established by a law of 2014, be activated?

Kostas Tsiaras: The problem is real. We don't have to hide behind our fingers anymore You have raised something that for me is a policy priority: Education and generally the training of all people in the primary sector is now a priority for us. It is something that we will see unfold in the coming period through processes that will really support the country. It is not an easy task. We all know what's going on.  We all know what we have to do, we all know what our position is right now, but we are here to take the next steps together and the next steps will be taken seriously with each other and honestly with each other. If we really want the primary sector to have a leading role in our country. It is not an exhaustive debate here.  End of article.

The link to my updated google map of outbreaks in Greece and Romania.  As always, I invite input from others.

Quote from Paula Menzies on 12-08-2024, 17:54

The situation in Greece as of August 12, 2024

Nik Kordalis has sent some observations from affected farms he has visited.  This is an email from August 12:

"I would like to update some information about PPR in my region. 

The last farm found positive for PPR had a variety of symptoms:

• Many animals had heavy respiratory distress both from pneumonia and a large quantity of nasal discharge. 3 of them were orthopneic 
• Diarrhoea was the most common symptom followed by emaciation in 2-3 days of onset
• A week before the onset of symptoms to the sheep, 4/5 of the goats present in the farm  died suddenly according to the farmer "

FR 18 reports only 1 new outbreak in the Amori region, a region previously affected.  Fingers crossed, things seem to be slowing.  At this time, 19463 animals are exposed with 2079 cases and 486 deaths reported.

The situation in Romania as of August 9, 2024.

FR7  reports only 1 new outbreak in the Pantilimon region, previously affected.  There have been no reports of new cases since then.  Again, this is hopeful that measures are working and the spread of PPR is slowing in Romania as well.  At this time 232569 animals have been exposed, with 5112 cases and 4917 deaths reported.

As always, College members should remain vigilant to cases such as Nik described above and using the pneumo-enteritis syndromic surveillance to detect possible new outbreaks for further diagnostic investigation.  Please share any observations, questions you may have in this forum.

• Many animals had heavy respiratory distress both from pneumonia and a large quantity of nasal discharge. 3 of them were orthopneic 
• Diarrhoea was the most common symptom followed by emaciation in 2-3 days of onset
• A week before the onset of symptoms to the sheep, 4/5 of the goats present in the farm  died suddenly according to the farmer "

FR 18 reports only 1 new outbreak in the Amori region, a region previously affected.  Fingers crossed, things seem to be slowing.  At this time, 19463 animals are exposed with 2079 cases and 486 deaths reported.

The situation in Romania as of August 9, 2024.

FR7  reports only 1 new outbreak in the Pantilimon region, previously affected.  There have been no reports of new cases since then.  Again, this is hopeful that measures are working and the spread of PPR is slowing in Romania as well.  At this time 232569 animals have been exposed, with 5112 cases and 4917 deaths reported.

As always, College members should remain vigilant to cases such as Nik described above and using the pneumo-enteritis syndromic surveillance to detect possible new outbreaks for further diagnostic investigation.  Please share any observations, questions you may have in this forum.

Quote from Paula Menzies on 19-08-2024, 20:20

The situation in Romania as of August 13, 2024

There are currently 58 ongoing outbreaks but no new outbreaks have been reported since August 13 (6 days ago).  It appears that outbreaks are nearby other earlier outbreaks.  Perhaps this means that spread is slowing.  Very good news!  As of this date, there have been 232,729 animals exposed with 5,132 cases and 4,917 deaths.  There is no word yet on the source of the outbreak.

FR7 - One new outbreak in Pantelimon, nearby other outbreaks.

FR8  - One new outbreak in Ceamurlia de Sus, nearby other outbreaks

The situation in Greece as of August 16, 2024

There are currently 52 ongoing outbreaks with no new outbreaks reported in 3 days.  There are 23,335 animals exposed in these outbreaks with 3,979 cases and 486 deaths reported.  No official word of the source of the outbreak.

FR19 - Three new outbreaks: Pounari, Ximadi & Kalochori - all associated with an outbreak cluster north of Larissa in east-central Greece.

FR20 - One new outbreak: Girtoni - nearby the outbreak cluster north of Larissa in east-central Greece.

Updated Google map of outbreaks

The Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) UK Government has posted excellent outbreak assessments which are a very interesting read.  The map provided in each report includes 6 PPR outbreaks reported by ADIS in Turkey in 2024.   Some of these outbreaks in Turkey have not yet been reported by WOAH, which only reports disease occurrence every 6 months in endemically infected countries:

July 17 - Preliminary Outbreak Assessment

July 24 - Update Outbreak Assessment #2

From this bulletin, I am copying a few paragraphs which I found very interesting.  The authors are evaluating the risk of PPR to UK small ruminants:

"Ruminant production in the Black Sea Basin (including Romania and Türkiye) is critical for national economies and the subsistence of rural populations (Arede and others. 2023). The ruminant sector was restructured following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Ruminant health was hindered by informal animal trade as a result of economic factors, insufficient support for the development of formal trade, and socio-cultural drivers (Arede and others. 2023). In the Caucasus and Türkiye, where diseases were present, improvements to ruminant health were driven by access to trading opportunities (Arede and others. 2023).

Trade to Great Britian (England, Scotland and Wales) in live sheep and goats from Romania is allowed although restrictions are currently being put in place. However, there have been no consignments of live sheep or goats or the semen or embryos of such species from Greece or from Romania (from 1 May 2024 to 23 July 2024) to Great Britain. Imports from Greece of live sheep and goats and ovine and caprine germplasm are currently prohibited to Great Britain following an outbreak of sheep pox and goat pox in Greece in October 2023.

There is a general lack of evidence about PPR survival in raw meat and milk (Clarke and others, 2018). Although there have been 93 consignments of pasteurised milk and milk products imported to Great Britain from Romania, there have been no consignments of raw or unpasteurised milk and milk products from 1 May 2024 to 23 July 2024. However, there have been 33 consignments (241,620 kg) of meat and meat products from sheep and goats from Romania between 1 May 2024 and 22 July 2024.

In addition, there have been 24 consignments (262,667 kg) of colostrum from sheep and goats (unknown if pasteurised or heat treated) mainly intended for human consumption from Romania. Chilled and fresh hides and skins are under a safeguard measure, suspending the entry to Great Britain from Greece and in the near future from Romania (with none imported from Romania from 1 May 2024 to 23 July 2024). Since livestock and germinal products are the main risk factors for PPR it is concluded that the risk to Great Britain is negligible. "

August 5 - Updated Outbreak Assessment #3

This report reviews the allegation that sheep from Romania were the likely source of PPR to Greece, although at this point it is only an allegation.  It spread widely through Greece by movement of breeding stock from the originally infected farm.  In one case, a single trader moved 76 consignments from his infected farm.  The article also states that both Greece and Romania are complying in full with EU Regulation 687/2020, and also applying restrictions more stringent than this regulation.  For those of us trying to understand what movement is allowed and what is restricted, it is a useful read.

The article also offers an excellent review of risk of transmission from animals and food products.  Quoting from the article

"Tissue tropism in sheep and goats experimentally infected with PPR shows the lymph nodes, lymphoid tissue and digestive tract organs are the predominant sites of PPR virus replication (Truong and others 2014) with up to 105.5 RNA copies per gram of tissue (reticulum) from sheep and up to 105.3 RNA copies per gram of tissue (omasum) in goats. There is a general lack of published empirical evidence about PPR survival in raw meat and milk (Clarke and others, 2018) and the EFSA scientific opinion (2015) considers that the virus may survive in fresh and chilled meat for a few days. Experts consider that it is possible that PPR virus can be spread through movement of animal products including fresh meat, offal, raw milk and animal by-products (EFSA 2022). Thus it is assumed here that products of animal origin and meat may present a small risk. The virus is considered sensitive to heat and ultraviolet light and it does not survive in the environment except in shaded areas (EFSA 2015). PPR transmission is usually via contact with infected animals, or with their fresh secretions or faeces. Transport of infected livestock is the main risk factor for PPR (EFSA 2015) although experts consider that it is possible that semen, oocytes as well as embryos obtained from PPR virus-infected animals can contain infectious pathogen (EFSA 2022) albeit with large uncertainty. "

As always, if anybody has more information, please share with us.

Quote from Kim Hamer on 27-08-2024, 17:58

Recently published and may be of interest:

Herzog, C. M. et al. (2024) Empirical and model-based evidence for a negligible role of cattle in peste des petits ruminants virus transmission and eradication. Communications Biology , 7(1), 937. (doi: 10.1038/s42003-024-06619-2) (PMID: 39095591) (PMCID: PMC11297268)