Foot-and-mouth disease is an acute infectious disease that spreads very quickly and strongly in cloven-hoofed animals such as buffalo, cows, goats, sheep, and pigs; caused by an epidermotropic virus, characterized by fever and blisters in the mouth, feet, and udder.
The disease can be transmitted directly through contact between susceptible animals and infected animals when kept together or grazed together on pastures; indirectly through food, drinking water, feeding troughs, drinking troughs, barn floors, livestock equipment, hands, feet, pants, and clothes of infected livestock farmers. The disease spreads from one region to another, from one country to another across borders through the transport of animals and animal products in fresh form carrying the pathogen (including frozen meat, skin, bones, horns, hooves, milk), the disease spreads through many different ways, including through the air.
Every year, in our country, foot-and-mouth disease causes hundreds of billions of dong in damage. In addition, the disease also affects the food processing industry, greatly affecting the export of animals and animal products from Vietnam to other countries.
In Vietnam, foot-and-mouth disease virus has appeared, circulated and caused disease in livestock for more than 120 years (since 1898). In 1953-1954, foot-and-mouth disease spread to the provinces of the South Central and North Central regions, including Nghe An province, and the disease still occurs today. In order to synchronously deploy solutions and mobilize resources to effectively prevent and control foot-and-mouth disease, implementing Decision No. 1632/QD-TTg dated October 22, 2020 of the Prime Minister, Nghe An province issued Decision No. 115/QD-UBND dated January 15, 2021 on approving the Plan for prevention and control of foot-and-mouth disease in Nghe An province, period 2021-2025 with the goal of effectively implementing the prevention and control of foot-and-mouth disease in the province, minimizing losses in livestock farming; Successfully build facilities and livestock areas that are safe from foot-and-mouth disease, to ensure sustainable livestock development, serve domestic consumption and aim to export animals and animal products.
After more than 2 years of implementing the Decision, the province has achieved many important results, foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks only occurred in small areas, were localized, promptly contained, and did not spread widely; information and propaganda work was promoted, contributing to raising people's awareness in disease prevention and control; Disease surveillance work was strengthened, timely warnings and control solutions were deployed; Plans were developed and vaccines were provided to districts to effectively implement annual vaccination; at the same time, post-vaccination monitoring samples were collected to evaluate the effectiveness of vaccines as well as vaccination organization in localities; Strictly monitor the transportation of buffaloes and cows in and out of the province; guide, encourage, and facilitate facilities and localities to build disease-safe areas and facilities...
Every year, Nghe An province has a policy of providing foot-and-mouth disease vaccines to vaccinate livestock in mountainous areas, dairy cow farming buffer zones in Nghia Dan district and Thai Hoa town; epidemic areas; old epidemic areas; high-risk areas; key buffalo and cow farming areas; farming areas with large buffalo and cow markets in the province... thereby minimizing epidemics and effectively protecting livestock in the area.
Mr. Dang Van Minh - Head of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine of Nghe An province said: Although foot and mouth disease in Nghe An province has been controlled, the risk of an epidemic is very high, especially in mountainous areas. The reason is that Nghe An province has a large herd of buffalo and cows, with nearly 800,000 heads, a total herd of pigs of nearly 1 million heads, but the livestock is mainly raised by households, small-scale, free-range grazing practices in remote communes are still common, not proactive in disease prevention and treatment for livestock; in many places, livestock barns are still temporary or do not have barns; some local authorities have not paid attention to livestock and veterinary work; a part of the people have not been proactive in disease prevention and control for livestock...
Despite the large scale, small-scale farming accounts for over 70%, which poses numerous risks of disease spread, affecting the socio-economy and ecological environment. In this context, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, local authorities and related units have identified promoting vaccination as one of the effective measures to create active immunity for livestock and poultry.
Currently, the rainy season is entering, flooding occurs in many localities, the environment is polluted, viruses and bacteria thrive, creating conditions for epidemics to arise and spread. Therefore, people need to regularly update and monitor weather forecasts to have a proactive response plan before storms appear; check and reinforce barns; prepare food and water; take good care of and raise livestock to improve resistance; clean, disinfect and sterilize the livestock environment; fully vaccinate livestock and when detecting sick or dead livestock and poultry suspected of having an infectious disease, it is necessary to immediately notify the local authorities and the nearest veterinary agency for timely inspection and handling.