Annual Report

NOTE

• *1 : Leishmaniosis kala azar=4
  Leishmaniosis cutan= 36
  

I. New activities of the veterinary services
No new activities to report

II. Comments on specific List A diseases
1. Foot and mouth disease
No cases of FMD have been reported since 09/1999. Israel continues with the policy of annual vaccination, all cattle from the age of 3 months are vaccinated with a triple vaccine (against O1, A22, Asia1), a booster is given 2 to 8 weeks after the first vaccination to calves under the age of 18 months. The sheep and goats are vaccinated annually with mono-valent O vaccine.

2. Peste des petits ruminants
Eight outbreaks (one in goats and seven in sheep) were reported during 2000, an increased incidence compared to the previous year. Sheep and goats are vaccinated annually from the age of 4 months. Such a policy could not prevent the high mortality amongst young kids affected, and finding the right "window" between the effect of maternal antibodies and the risk of infection still presents a practical dilemma.

3. Sheep pox and goat pox
Incidence of the disease increased compared to the previous year, nine outbreaks were reported in 2000. In view of that increase, vaccination of all sheep and goats became compulsory.

III. Comments on specific List B diseases
1. Rabies
Thirty-two cases of rabies were reported in 2000 compared to 76 in the previous year. The oral vaccination of wild animals went on its way, 101,000 bates were dropped in an area of 5000 km2 (an approximate half of the area planned for the project).

2. Bovine spongiform encephalitis
No case have been reported or diagnosed1. Bovine ephemeral fever
For the second year running, the disease severely affected the dairy herds in the country. Previous last recorded outbreaks were in the years 1930, 1936, 1939, 1951, and 1990/1. The disease was first diagnosed in the last two outbreaks in the Rift Valley, spreading later to the south and to the west. The epidemiology of the disease is not completely understood, and no efficient vaccines are available.

2. West Nile Fever
The disease is an arbovirus disease known in Israel for the last 50 years. It is assumed that migrating birds introduce the virus into the country and the local population of mosquitoes later spreads it to other birds that become the natural reservoir. Since it first affected 4 commercial geese farms in 1997, the disease has been diagnosed annually (15, 11, and 8 out of approximately 60 commercial goose flocks in 1998, 1999, and 2000 respectively). Vaccination with attenuated TE of all geese flocks was compulsory in 2000. Two flocks comprising 4300 geese (100%) were destroyed, and 1003 geese (6.2%) either died or were destroyed in six other affected flocks after criteria for partial depopulation based on morbidity and mortality rates had been defined.
through the active monitoring carried out.

IV. Comments on other diseases
1. Bovine ephemeral fever
For the second year running, the disease severely affected the dairy herds in the country. Previous last recorded outbreaks were in the years 1930, 1936, 1939, 1951, and 1990/1. The disease was first diagnosed in the last two outbreaks in the Rift Valley, spreading later to the south and to the west. The epidemiology of the disease is not completely understood, and no efficient vaccines are available.

2. West Nile Fever
The disease is an arbovirus disease known in Israel for the last 50 years. It is assumed that migrating birds introduce the virus into the country and the local population of mosquitoes later spreads it to other birds that become the natural reservoir. Since it first affected 4 commercial geese farms in 1997, the disease has been diagnosed annually (15, 11, and 8 out of approximately 60 commercial goose flocks in 1998, 1999, and 2000 respectively). Vaccination with attenuated TE of all geese flocks was compulsory in 2000. Two flocks comprising 4300 geese (100%) were destroyed, and 1003 geese (6.2%) either died or were destroyed in six other affected flocks after criteria for partial depopulation based on morbidity and mortality rates had been defined.