2nd meeting of the Standing Group of Experts on Lumpy Skin Disease

The second meeting of the Standing Group of Experts for LSD in South East Europe took place in Lisbon / Portugal on 21 September 2016, in the margins of the OIE 27th Conference of the OIE Regional Commission for Europe.

It was a short meeting, mainly dedicated to presentations by countries to understand the evolution of their epidemiological situation since the SGE LSD1 (Brussels / Belgium; 4-5 July 2016) and their vaccination programme (or other prevention and control measures).

Main outcomes

1. The SGE LSD1 Report was endorsed. 
2. The European Commission indicated that:
   * 2,5 million doses of quality vaccines are currently being procured and that Balkans countries will be able to ask the Commission for additional vaccine supply as appropriate;
   * Balkan countries could request the reimbursement of the vaccines they had purchased from their national budget and used over the past three months.
3. The 2 SGE LSD Experts, Dr E. Tuppurainen and K. de Clercq, insisted on the need to conduct independent quality control of heterologous LSD vaccines.
4. A new set of modern EU control and preventive measures (Commission Implementing Decision – link to be provided) to combat LSD were endorsed on 14 September 2016 by EU Member State experts, following the outcomes of the Ministerial Conference on LSD held in Sofia / Bulgaria on 8-9 September 2016 [Sofia high level ministerial conference conclusions]. All SGE LSD countries will be requested to fill annex II of the Decision on the minimum requirements for LSD vaccination programmes and send it back to the GF-TADs for Europe Secretariat (the template is currently being prepared by the Secretariat and will be circulated very soon to the countries). The information collated will serve as a basis to prepare a robust long-term LSD control strategy for the whole Balkan region, under the GF-TADs.

Key documents

• Background documents
  Control and eradication of Lumpy Skin Disease in South East Europe (E. Tuppurainen and N. Galon) [techical Item II of the 27th conference of the OIE regional Commission for Europe]
  
• Countries presentations
  Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, FYROM, Kosovo*, Montenegro, Romania, Russia, Serbia
  * This designation is without prejudice to positions on status and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.
• Conclusions
  SGE LSD2 conclusions