Recommended standards for epidemiological surveillance systems for rinderpest

A process involving time-bound steps used to verify the transition from the status of freedom from rinderpest to that of freedom from infection with the rinderpest virus is described. The procedure, informally but widely known as the 'OIE Pathway' (OIE: Office International des Epizooties), originated with the report of the 1989 Expert Consultation on Rinderpest Surveillance Systems. The OIE Foot and Mouth Disease and Other Epizootics Commission, with the assistance of experts on the disease, proposed a revision of the recommended standards in the reference document presented at the 66th General Session of the OIE (66 SG/12/CS3 B, Appendix III). During that General Session, the standards were amended and adopted by the OIE International Committee (Resolution No. IX dated 28 May 1998).