Foot-and-mouth disease detected

NORTH WEST: FARMS ARE NOW UNDER QUARANTINE

A case of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) was confirmed on a commercial stud farm in the North West, the department of agriculture said yesterday.

Departmental spokesperson Reggie Ngcobo said the case was confirmed through laboratory results after the provincial veterinary services conducted epidemiological investigations.

He said the farm and other linked farms were placed under quarantine, while further surveillance in the area was being conducted to determine the extent of the outbreak.

“A joint operations commission supported by the local members of the mayoral committee for safety and security, the provincial disaster risk management committees of both Dr Kenneth Kaunda and JB Marks was established and its first sitting was on Sunday.

“All present pledged their unwavering support for the control of this outbreak,” Ngcobo said.

FMD affects cattle, pigs (domestic and wild), sheep, goats and all other cloven-hoofed animals. The virus constantly mutates and vaccinations for one strain do not protect against others.

Furthermore, an outbreak of the disease was detected this month in the Collins Chabane local municipality in Limpopo.

The department said the infection was detected in two locations in the former FMD-free zone and involved cattle in communal grazing areas.

“One of the two new infected locations is in the Disease Management Area [DMA], which was declared in January 2019 and remains in place, while the other is north of it,” said Ngcobo. “Other locations in the area with clinical signs suggestive of FMD are under investigation.”

Ngcobo said the outbreak was most likely due to spill-over from an outbreak in the adjacent FMD protection zone, which was detected in March last year.

Ngcobo said surveillance in the newly affected area was underway to determine the extent of the spread of the disease within the DMA and to the north of the DMA. Vaccination in the area had also started in an effort to curtail the further spread of the disease.

“There are permanent movement restrictions in the protection zone, preventing the free movement of cloven-hoofed livestock into the FMD-free zone. The affected dip tanks were placed under quarantine and no cloven-hoofed animals were allowed to move from these locations.”

The FMD outbreak in KwaZulu-Natal was not yet contained, the department said.