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Foot and Mouth Disease
outbreaks have been discovered in Peru and Brazil.
Two
new outbreaks of foot and mouth disease have been recorded
in South America - in Peru and Brazil. Dr. Oscar Dominguez
Falcon, director-general for animal health at the National
Animal Health Service, Lima, Peru said that laboratory diagnosis
on June 11 and 14 confirmed an outbreak on three farms in
the Lurín district of Lima in Peru. The outbreak
occurred in fattening cattle and eight were destroyed and
another 80 slaughtered. The cases were reported in a zone
where vaccination is practiced and where no cases of the
disease had been detected since October 2000.
Control
measures included the destruction of all positive cattle
and the slaughter of 80 contact cattle. Other measures taken
include vaccination and booster vaccination in the area,
movement restrictions for susceptible species into and out
of the affected area, and stepping up of epidemiological
surveillance by serological monitoring.
The
outbreak in Brazil was reported to the OIE (World Animal
Health Organization) by Dr. Jorge Caetano Jr., director
of the Department of Animal Protection in the Ministry of
Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply in Brazil. The case
involved one farm in the State of Pará, Monte Alegre
district.
Total
number of animals in the outbreak were 130 susceptible and
three actual cases. Officials are investigating the source
of the outbreak. The Brazilian agriculture ministry said
that due to the geographical situation of the outbreak,
the risk of spread is low. The outbreak is located more
than 700 km to the north of the zone recognized by the OIE
as a zone free from FMD where vaccination is practiced.
The affected farm is on the left bank of the Amazon River.
There are few roads and access is difficult. Movements are
mainly by waterway. Control measures include quarantine
and movement control inside the country.
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