Exhibit 8, 100416 Brazil FMD Risk Evaluation - R-Calf

Annex 3. Hazard Identification: Swine Vesicular Disease Virus
SVD is a contagious and economically damaging disease of domestic swine and wild boar. The
disease has historically been recorded in Hong Kong, Japan, and several European countries;
however, in 2004 the disease was primarily limited to Italy and Portugal (OIE 2005a). The SVD
virus belongs to the family Picornaviridae, genus Enterovirus [62]. SVD virus is particularly hardy,
as it is resistant to pH changes between 2.5 and 12 and is very stable under cold conditions [76, 77].
The virus is therefore unlikely to be destroyed by the postmortem decrease in muscle pH that
accompanies carcass maturation. SVD virus is also resistant to fermentation and smoking. It may
remain in hams for 180 days, sausages for over a year, and processed intestinal casings for over 2
years [29].
The incubation period for SVD is 2 to 7 days. The intestinal tract is the primary site of infection;
however, all tissues contain virus during the viremic period. Blood and feces of sick animals, as
well as epithelium from vesicles and vesicular fluid, are significant sources of virus. Although SVD
virus does not appear to have a tropism for skeletal muscle cells, it is easily isolated from muscle
tissue from infected animals after slaughter and bleeding out. SVD may be introduced into a herd by
feeding garbage containing infected meat scraps, by introducing infected animals into a herd, or by
contacting infected feces (e.g., an improperly cleaned truck). After the initial introduction the
disease spreads through contact of susceptible pigs with infected pigs and infected feces.
The clinical signs of SVD are easily confused with those of FMD and include fever, sudden
lameness, and vesicles with subsequent erosions along the snout, feet, and teats. Morbidity rates
may be low throughout a whole herd but high in certain pens. SVD causes essentially no mortality,
and recovery usually occurs within 1 week (in some cases, up to 3 weeks). SVD infections seldom
persist (Lin et al 2001); however, some strains produce only mild clinical symptoms or are
asymptomatic, and are detected only through laboratory surveillance [29]. For example, a 2002
outbreak of SVD in Italy involved subclinical infection in all but one of 10,312 affected pigs
(Brocchio et al 2002).
APHIS Evaluation of the Status of the Brazilian State of Santa Catarina 75