Emergence of Besnoitia besnoiti in Belgium

Abstract

Bovine besnoitiosis is a cattle disease caused by a protozoan parasite called Besnoitia besnoiti. It is of serious economic concern to the cattle industry and also compromises animal welfare. For several years, it has been considered an emerging disease in some countries and regions located in the north of Europe far away from the known endemic areas in the south. This study describes the situation in the southern part of Belgium, where the parasite was recently introduced through imports of animals coming from departments of France where the disease was present. It details the detection of clinical cases as well as disease transmission features related to contacts during grazing and sales of infected cattle. A tracking and monitoring system was quickly set up and detected twelve outbreaks. Several cattle were controlled, but the lack of appropriate regulations weakens disease-management efforts. Hopefully, this predictable and silent introduction triggers the awareness of decision-makers about the need for an appropriate prevention and control policy, law enforcement, and the implementation of necessary measures to avoid bovine besnoitiosis becoming endemic in Belgium or other non-endemic countries. In addition, more proactive surveillance is required from authorities through threat analysis in the context of the risk of emergence or re-emergence of infectious animal diseases.

First Expert Elicitation of Knowledge on Drivers of Emergence of Bovine Besnoitiosis in Europe

“…The Se and Sp of the rtPCR are around 90% and >99% [ 46 ]. A previous study recommended also a mandatory active surveillance system via a systematic analysis of all imported animals originating from areas at risk [ 32 ]. Research is recommended to develop more commercial accurate laboratory assays and decision-making trees able to help the diagnostic of BB.…”

“…Several criteria to include a disease as reportable exist among which the most important is its zoonotic character (that was not the case for BB according to [ 17 ]) and its significant health impacts, taking into account the occurrence and severity of the clinical signs, including direct production losses and mortality [ 47 ]. Despite several papers reporting economic concerns related to BB (e.g., [ 28 , 32 ]), factual data on the burden of the disease and its translation to monetary losses are completely lacking [ 17 ]. We strongly recommend estimating the economic burden of BB in order to convince policy makers to take action (or not) whether to include BB as a notifiable disease based on factual data.…”

“…The tenth most important driver was related to the problem of the ability of preventive/control measures to stop the disease from entering the country or spreading (D2–1). Recent studies recommended the awareness of decision-makers about the need for an appropriate prevention and control policy, law enforcement and the implementation of necessary measures to avoid BB becoming endemic in non-endemic countries [ 32 , 51 , 52 , 53 ]. As biosecurity measures, a quarantine and a systematic screening of all imported animals originating from areas at risk can be proposed [ 32 ].…”

“…Recent studies recommended the awareness of decision-makers about the need for an appropriate prevention and control policy, law enforcement and the implementation of necessary measures to avoid BB becoming endemic in non-endemic countries [ 32 , 51 , 52 , 53 ]. As biosecurity measures, a quarantine and a systematic screening of all imported animals originating from areas at risk can be proposed [ 32 ]. In addition, in South Africa and Israel, live-attenuated vaccines were used [ 17 ].…”

“…Several outbreaks have been reported in European non-endemic countries [ 22 ] such as Germany [ 26 ], Switzerland [ 27 ], Croatia [ 28 ], Hungary [ 29 ], Ireland [ 30 ] and Belgium [ 31 , 32 ]. A range of reasons could explain this new scenario, including the animal trade, management practices such as sharing pastures, and climate change by modification of the vector activity [ 33 ].…”