VOV) - A foot-and-mouth epidemic has broken out in 39 provinces, affecting more than 150,000 head of cattle. More than 45,000 animals have died or been destroyed, including over 5,000 buffalos, 938 cows, 37,760 pigs and 329 goats.
These figures were from the report delivered by the Animal Health Department at a meeting in Hanoi on June 24 to sum up the prevention of the disease.
At the meeting, Hoang Van Nam, head of the department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, stressed that the epidemic had spread more quickly than previous years because of the carelessness of local inhabitants and authorities. Nam said they did not closely manage the epidemic hot spots and did not destroy diseased cattle as instructed.
Bad weather and the habit of tending buffalos and cows on a small scale contributed to the high risk of epidemics, Nam added.
The Animal Health Department ha asked provinces to work out programmes to prevent the disease, organize vaccinations for 2011, and use the correct vaccines. The aim is to contain foot-and-mouth disease in 2015.
Addressing the meeting, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Diep Kinh Tan warned that foot-and-mouth virus strains are constantly evolving. He said Vietnam has found effective vaccines to fight the disease, but veterinary agencies must continue to closely monitor the epidemic.