|
Viet Nam reports outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-02-09 13:56 Viet Nam, already grappling
with bird flu that has wiped out millions of its poultry and killed 19 people in
Asia, has detected a lethal outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in one province,
a health official said on Monday.
"The disease has hit us very hard," said an official at the animal health
department of the central province of Quang Nam, about 465 miles south of the
capital Hanoi.
She said the disease had killed more than 1,000 cattle and 200 pigs from six
districts in the province.
"We will try to save the cattle by injecting vaccines but all infected pigs
will be slaughtered and destroyed," she said.
Quang Nam is the only province in the country that has reported confirmed
cases of the disease, the official said.
Bird flu sweeping parts of Asia has killed 14 people in Viet Nam, and five in
Thailand, but foot and mouth disease is harmless to humans, though highly
contagious among animals.
Henry Schmick, Agricultural Officer at the U.S. embassy in Hanoi, told
Reuters that foot-and-mouth outbreaks are not unusual in Viet Nam and the
region.
"Periodically, Viet Nam suffers from foot-and-mouth disease," he said, adding
that it can take a mild form.
Viet Nam is not a major exporter of pork or beef, he said. The southeast
Asian country has a cattle population of nearly eight million and about 23
million swine.
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
Today's
Top News |
|
|
|
Top World
News |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
