OIE Representative for Southern Africa visits EUS affected area along Zambezi river

OIE Sub-Regional Representative for Southern Africa, Dr. Bonaventure Mtei, recently visited a fishermens’ settlement on the banks of the Zambezi river, close to Livingstone (Zambia) to take stock of the situation pertaining to Epizootic Ulcerative Syndrome (EUS) in fish in the Chobe – Zambesi river basin.

The disease, caused by an oomycete fungus, was first diagnosed in the Chobe river in 2007. This is the first appearance of this disease in Africa. It has not been established how the causative agent of EUS, Aphanomyces invadans, infected this aquatic system, but it appears likely that introduced aquaculture species played a role.

The Representative later also visited the micro-biology laboratory of the University of Zambia (UNZA) School of Veterinary Medicine. This lab has developed diagnostic capacity on EUS thanks to the support of the OIE Reference Laboratory for EUS in Bangkok, Thailand.