The Istitute in Mauritania

From the 18th to the 29th of March 2013, Massimo Scacchia and Andrea Di Provvido - veterinarians working at the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e del Molise - travelled to Mauritania in order to arrange and start a research project in collaboration with the Centre National d'Elevage et de Recherches Vétérinaires (CNERV) in Nouakchott.

The mission was part of the activities of the OIE Reference Laboratory for Brucellosis, the OIE Reference Laboratory for Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia and CESME, the National Reference Centre for the study and verification of Foreign Animal Diseases.

The project aims at monitoring Brucellosis, RVF , PPR, CCHF and haemoparasites in cattle and dromedaries slaughtered at the abattoir in Nouakchott, the CBPP in the bovines and Pasteurellosis in the dromedaries. Based on the importance of the dromedary in the Mauritanian society, the latter disease represents a true health priority. Given the expected prevalence of the diseases in question, the CNERV epidemiologist team decided to take biological material from 500 dromedaries and 300 cattle. The veterinarians of the Institute, after meetings with their Mauritanian colleagues for activity arrangements, went to the slaughterhouse in Nouakchott, where around 150-200 cattle and 120-150 dromedaries are slaughtered every day. The data collected during the project will allow to better understand the health situation of three provinces in the country, as well as to assess the health risk for humans, associated with the zoonotic agents considered in the study.

During the mission, the representatives of the Institute met with the Head of FAO delegation of Mauritania, Dr. Ahmeda Ould Mohamed Ahmed, the Chief Veterinary Officer Dr. Doumbia Baba and his deputy Dr. Mohamed Ould Baba Gueya, the CNERV Director, Dr. Dia Mamadou Lamine and his deputy Dr. Isselmou Ould Abdatt and, above all, the Minister of the Ministère du Développement Rural Direction de l'Elevage of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, His Excellency Dr. Brahim Ould Mbareck Ould Mohamed El Mokhtar.

The Minister expressed satisfaction and gratitude for the work undertaken by the Institute in collaboration with the CNERV and expressed his willing to request funding to enable the central laboratory staff in Mauritania to experience training periods at the Institute in Teramo.