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FAO Reports FMD in Northern Afghanistan
(Filed 1 May 2003)
www.land-care.org.uk
ProMED-mail post carried the following
report on 28th April 2003
http://www.promedmail.org
ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious
Diseases
Afghanistan: Foot-and-mouth disease outbreak
in the north
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
has confirmed that foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is killing 1 in
3 newborn lambs in northern Afghanistan. "On a national scale,
an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease would debilitate cattle which
plough wheat fields in the "breadbaskets" of western and
northern Afghanistan and till soil in irrigated valleys, seriously
threatening food security," an FAO spokesman, Etienne Careme,
told IRIN from the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Monday.
FMD spreads through contact between animals in
places such as markets. The sick animals have sores on their feet
and in their mouths, so they cannot drag a plow. This condition
keeps them out of action and can cause a food crisis in the families
who own them.
A joint team from the FAO and the Afghan Ministry
of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry (MAAH) is currently carrying
out investigations in the affected province of Baghlan, where the
infection first broke out and then spread to Konduz, Takhar, Samangan,
and Balkh. "We don't have figures concerning the disease yet,
but in the next few weeks, we along with MAAH will be given an update
on statistics," Careme said.
There are also cases of Peste des Petits Ruminants
(PPR, also known as goat plague, a rinderpest-like disease of goats
and sheep resulting in erosive stomatitis, enteritis, pneumonia,
and death) in small ruminants, especially sheep, with a mortality
rate of up to 85 percent. There are cases of enterotoxaemia and
pasteurellosis.
Most Afghan farming households depend on cattle
-- usually a single ox -- to plow their wheat fields at planting
time. A small flock of sheep or goats, perhaps 6 or 7, represents
a household's savings, and the offspring and animals' products are
sold to raise cash in an emergency.
Stopping the spread of the disease is crucial
in order to save the livelihoods of millions of people. With flocks
of up to 300 sheep, nomadic tribes, which depend on the animals
for their skins, meat, and wool, would be the hardest hit.
"We have vaccines, but not enough, and it
is a critical situation," Careme said. The FAO has appealed
for 6 million USD to deal with the crisis, of which 2 million is
needed for an immediate project to bolster government monitoring
of trans-boundary animal diseases at livestock markets, along borders,
and to respond to outbreaks.
Strict measures are already in place in Europe
to stop the spread of FMD, and herds of cattle with the disease
have been slaughtered. In the UK, one of the hardest-hit countries,
about 7 million animals were killed in 2001, destroying thousands
of farmers' livelihoods and costing the nation about 14 billion
USD.
ProMED-mail
promed@promedmail.org
Note
This outbreak remains "suspected"
until it has been confirmed at a laboratory. Information on the
FMD virus type(s) involved is of immediate importance. Typing should
facilitate the vaccine decision. Afghanistan is a member of the
OIE, but since 1996 no reports on the epizootic situation, including
the incidence of list-A animal diseases, have been available. During
2001, 4 samples were received at the World Reference Laboratory
for FMD at Pirbright; FMD virus type Asia 1 was identified.
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