With over 4,650 cows in Egypt reportedly dead, many of their bodies strewn on the side of roads and into waterways, and over 40,000 cases of Foot and Mouth disease and increasing, the United Nations food body warned that action must be taken to stop the spread of the disease across the region. The FAO said that “with vaccines urgently needed, international and regional organizations are at the ready to assist in developing a regional prevention, preparedness and action plan.” According to FAO's livestock census data, 6.3 million buffalo and cattle and 7.5 million sheep and goats are at risk in Egypt. Although foot-and-mouth disease has circulated in the country for some years, this is an entirely new introduction of a virus strain known as SAT2, and livestock have no immune protection against it. To date, however, the Egyptian government has done little to prevent the spread of the virus since it first appeared earlier this year. An FAO emergency team was in the country last week assessing the situation with veterinary authorities. They set up a first line of containment measures and the roll out of a national FMD control strategy. The strategy is focused on limiting the disease's spread by implementing biosecurity measures and by use of vaccination when available. “We are working closely to support the government to bring the outbreak under control. The area around the Lower Nile Delta appears to be severely affected, while other areas in Upper Egypt and the west appear less so,” said Juan Lubroth, FAO's Chief Veterinary Officer, calling for strong action to prevent the disease from spreading further. Egypt's Minister of Agriculture Reda Ismael said on Monday that the reason behind the viral spread of Foot and Mouth disease in many districts across Egypt was the smuggling of foreign infected cows across the border from Libya, which have been smuggled via secret tunnels. He added that most of the smuggling took place following the Egyptian revolution in January 2011. The government has not cleaned up the areas, threatening to allow the disease to spread further, as angry farmers decided to leave the animals. Farmers have also dumped hundreds of bodies into water ways and canals, threatening the country with a health and environmental disaster. Hundreds of thousands of villagers depend on these waterways for drinking water, irrigation and bathing, due to the weak infrastructure across the Nile Delta region. Many thousands young cows remain threatened with the same fate. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/3sF5h Tags: Cow, Disease, Egypt, FAO, featured, Foot and Mouth Section: Animals, Egypt, Health, Latest News
