Prevention and control of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD): Still subjective

(Baonghean) - Recently, in Nghe An, there have been a number of outbreaks of FMD type O. The cause of the outbreak is complicated weather conditions. The most worrying thing now is the subjective thinking of the people in disease prevention and control.

Three weeks ago, one of the three cows of Mr. Phan Bui Hieu's family (Hamlet 2, Hung Khanh Commune, Hung Nguyen) was infected with FMD. According to the veterinary agency's disease prevention measures, Mr. Hieu's sick cow must be kept and cared for in a barn to avoid spreading the disease. However, his family still let the cow graze. According to Mr. Hieu, when he saw that the wound on his cow's leg had signs of drying, due to a period of isolation, he was afraid that it would affect the health of the animal, so he let the cow graze.

However, that action becomes a danger to surrounding households. With a fairly high density of households here, people mainly do agriculture, every family has livestock such as buffalo, cows, pigs - which are directly affected by FMD. Especially at the present time, the weather is changing seasons, the disease strains are more easily spread. Instead of isolating and treating thoroughly, people "carelessly" graze sick animals right in residential areas, affecting other livestock in the area, easily causing a widespread epidemic.

Cattle farming in Hung Nguyen.

Meanwhile, recent heavy rains causing flooding have polluted the environment, posing many potential risks of disease for livestock and poultry. Therefore, in addition to the outbreak in Hung Khanh commune, in Hung Yen Bac and Hung Yen Nam communes, an FMD outbreak has also occurred, infecting 22 livestock. The worrying thing is that there is currently no specific medicine to treat FMD, so vaccination is a highly effective prevention and control measure. However, many livestock farmers are still not aware of vaccinating their livestock.

Ms. Vo Thi Mo - Head of the Veterinary Department of Hung Khanh Commune (Hung Nguyen) said: "In mid-October, in Hung Khanh Commune, there was an outbreak of FMD with 5 infected cattle. Immediately after the outbreak was detected, local veterinary staff surrounded and treated the outbreak, but the vaccination rate was only 70%. When we went to vaccinate, despite a lot of propaganda and mobilization, people often gave many reasons for not cooperating. This made FMD prevention work even more difficult, causing disadvantages for people in dealing with FMD."

In Nghi Hung commune (Nghi Loc), an outbreak recently occurred, causing 5 cows to become sick and then spread to 7 other cattle. The cause of the outbreak here was that a household bought sick cattle from another place and only reported it to the local authorities 5 days after the outbreak to surround and control it.

According to the announcement of the Department of Animal Health, currently the FMD epidemic is complicated in a number of provinces and cities across the country, the most dangerous is the FMD type A epidemic that has occurred in a number of communes and districts in Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh, Quang Tri provinces and is spreading widely. In Nghe An province, there have been scattered outbreaks of small, isolated FMD type O with a number of infected livestock in Hung Nguyen, Nghi Loc districts, Vinh city, etc. Along with the impact of storms No. 10 and 11, many localities have been flooded, causing environmental pollution, food scarcity, and erratic weather changes, reducing the resistance of livestock.

Nghe An is a province with many large livestock trading and transportation markets, bordering Ha Tinh and Thanh Hoa provinces, where FMD type A is occurring - a dangerous, highly virulent virus with a fast spreading rate, ... therefore, the risk of FMD occurring and spreading in the near future is very high. Therefore, to protect livestock, minimize damage caused by the epidemic, and contribute to promoting the safe and sustainable development of the livestock industry, in addition to the role of local authorities, people themselves need to raise awareness in disease prevention and control, and be responsible for their livestock and the community.

Thuy Vinh

(Provincial Radio)