Variant foot-and-mouth disease strikes buffaloes in Iraq

Published 2023년 2월 13일

Tridge summary

An outbreak of the foot-and-mouth disease in Iraq has resulted in the loss of five buffaloes for a farmer despite vaccination, due to a resistant variant never seen in the country. The SAT2 strain has been identified by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), leaving authorities seeking the correct vaccine doses to prevent further spread. The disease, which is highly contagious among cattle, buffaloes, and other cloven-hoofed animals, has had a severe impact on livestock in Nineveh province this year. The outbreak and rising food prices are causing significant financial losses for farmers.

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Original content

Despite vaccinating his entire herd against foot-and-mouth disease, Iraqi farmer Saadoun Roumi lost five of his 15 buffaloes to a variant never seen in the country. The severe and highly contagious disease of cattle has plagued Iraq for decades, but this year's outbreak has already had a devastating impact described as unprecedented by veterinarians in Nineveh province. The information was provided by Mohammad Salim, from the AFP agency. Laboratory tests identified the SAT2 variant of the viral illness, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said. This strain, never before registered in Iraq, is resistant to vaccines commonly used in the country, leaving authorities scrambling to get the correct doses to inoculate livestock to prevent further spread. “The infections are much higher,” lamented Roumi, 26, from her farm in the village of Badush, near Mosul, the capital of Nineveh. "Every day there are between 20 and 25 cases in the village." In his ...

Source: Agrolink