Countries where the disease is present suffer the economic and social consequences of reduced milk and meat production and embargoes on their exports of animal products. An outbreak in a country which is normally free can result in the loss of export trade in livestock products almost overnight. Current programmes in countries where the disease occurs are usually based on vaccination which is expensive. The eradication of the disease requires active disease surveillance, rapid reporting of suspected cases and fast, reliable diagnosis so that control measures can be implemented without delay. This advice is based on laboratory findings which indicate the most suitable vaccine strains and details of the outbreak virus itself which can help control its spread or re-introduction.
Considerable experience is available from successful control programmes in other countries.
Surveillance International agreements prevent infected animals and animal products being moved between countries. Those countries that rely on export of meat can see their markets rapidly disappear, if their herds become infected. The information has helped to show how the virus survives by causing persistent infections in cattle and buffalo, how it evades the immune response of its infected host and how it transmits over distances of up to 60 km simply as an aerosol. They are received and catalogued at the IAH into a unique library, unequalled for any other animal virus. The research base that this provides is constantly producing new insights into the disease, but at the same time posing new questions as well.