Brazil to be globally labeled free of foot-and-mouth disease

Brazil’s efforts to eliminate foot-and-mouth disease from cattle will be formally recognized at the General Session of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) World Assembly General, to be held in France in May. Brazil is expected to receive the international certificate stating it has become a zone free of foot-and-mouth disease through vaccination, covering the northern states of Amapá, Roraima, parts of Amazonas, and Pará.

In an event held Wednesday (Apr. 5), President Michel Temer celebrated the upcoming certificate. “This certificate is more than reason enough to celebrate. We’re giving proof of the excellence of our meat, our agriculture, and our sanitary services,” the president said in his address.

Brazil’s Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, and Supply Blairo Maggi said the recognition is the result of the partnership between governments and producers.

Vaccines no longer needed

In May, 2019, Acre and Rondônia states, in addition to municipalities in Amazonas and Mato Grosso, are to start suspending vaccination. Producers are expected to stop vaccinating their cattle sometime after May, 2011. The entire country is to be recognized by the OIE as a mouth-and-foot disease-free zone by May, 2013.

In today’s ceremony, Temer and Maggi launched a new seal for the mail service in commemoration of the nation’s sanitary conditions.

Foot-and-mouth disease is a highly contagious viral illness that causes fever and sores on the mouth, paws, and teats of livestock. In less than a week, an entire herd can become infected.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira