EN
Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is the most contagious disease of domesticated and wild cloven-hoofed animals, caused by a virus of the Aphthovirus genus in the Picornaviridae family. Foot and mouth disease virus (FMDV) exists as seven different serotypes (O, A, C, Asia 1, SAT 1, SAT 2, SAT 3), which are not uniformly distributed across the globe. Six of the seven serotypes of FMD (O, A, C, SAT 1, SAT 2, SAT 3) occur in Africa, four (O, A, C, Asia 1) in Asia, and only three (O, A, C) in South America. FMD-endemic areas of the world are high-risk zones for introducing FMD to countries free of the disease. In 2010-2011 and at the beginning of 2012, FMD caused by different serotypes occurred in Asia, Africa and South America. It also occurs in Europe, in Bulgaria. Asia is still the main source of outbreaks for the Middle East and Europe. In the period considered, the dominant serotype was O, and no serotype C was observed. It is noteworthy that serotype C has not been recorded since 2004. Its disappearance has not yet been explained. This article presents key information on the outbreaks of FMD around the world based on the data from Office International des Epizooties (OIE) and the World Reference Laboratory for Foot-and-Mouth Disease (WRL FMD).