Cattle and poultry on farms in the country should be vaccinated against flu and foot-and-mouth disease to prevent further outbreaks (Illustrative image. Source: VNA)
HCM City (VNS/VNA) –
across the country are taking action to prevent the spread of disease that has
affected cattle and poultry breeding facilities and farms in recent weeks.
An outbreak of
H5N1 avian influenza occurred in late December in Can
Duoc district in the Mekong Delta province of Long
An, according to Dinh Thi Phuong Khanh, Deputy Director of the provincial
Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
On December 21, as many as 400
chickens at a -breeding farm in hamlet 4 in Long Son commune showed
symptoms of the disease, but the farm’s owner did not report the problem to
authorities and tried to treat the animals by himself.
The disease was transmitted
through the air and nearly 3,600 of 5,500 ducks at two farms nearby died on
January 3.
After samples from dead ducks
were found to be positive for H5N1, Can Duoc district’s People’s Committee
announced that H5N1 bird flu had broken out in Long Son commune.
The district’s People’s Committee
issued a plan on disease prevention to stall the spread of the deadly flu.
Local authorities were asked to
burn dead animals, spray disinfectants, carry out
strict surveillance, and set up
three quarantine booths to closely
monitor the situation.
The province also provided H5N1 avian
flu vaccines to poultry farming
households and large livestock farms with 2,000 animals in affected
areas and in high-risk neighbouring areas such as Long
Cang, Long Hoa, Tan Trach and Phuoc Van communes.
Agencies were required to reach
at least 90 percent of H5N1 avian flu vaccine
coverage in affected areas, and about 80 percent coverage in
threatened areas.
Unseasonable weather in provinces
across the country could contribute to the spread of the disease in coming
weeks.
In Dak Lak province, the Sub-department of Animal
Husbandry and Health reported that an outbreak
of H5N1 avian influenza and foot-and-mouth
disease occurred in late 2018.
Sixty-four cows at 19 breeding
households in Buon Ho town’s Cu Bao commune on December 27 were found to have
foot-and-mouth disease.
A day after, the Buon Ho People’s
Committee announced an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease
in cattle and temporarily suspended all transport, trade and slaughter of
and livestock products out of the affected areas.
The sub-department provided Cu Bao commune’s People’s
Committee 800 vaccines against foot-and-mouth disease and 30 litres of
chemicals for disinfecting areas.
Earlier, an outbreak of A/H5N1 bird flu among
215 chickens occurred at a breeding household in Krong Pak district’s Tan Tien commune.
Krong Pak district’s Animal
Health Station destroyed the infected chickens and
took measures to prevent
disease and a large-scale outbreak.
Meanwhile, Tien Giang province’s Department
of Agriculture and Rural Development reported that it had burned nearly 1,200
pigs with foot-and-mouth disease at 83 breeding households
and two slaughtering facilities in Cai Be, Cai Lay and Chau Thanh districts and Cai
Lay town.
The disease first broke
out on a farm in Cai Lay district’s My Thanh Nam commune on
December 21 and spread quickly. Most of the animals had not been
vaccinated against foot-and-mouth disease.
Provincial authorities said the
virus spread rapidly because breeders had not disclosed that their pigs were
diseased, and some of them had even sold diseased animals.
Farmers were told to immediately
report their infected animals and to not throw away dead animals.
Authorities said that public
awareness campaigns were needed to educate locals about the need for vaccines.
More inspections and better
supervision during trading, transportation and
slaughtering process are also needed, they said.
The province is now disinfecting the environment to
reduce pathogens in an effort to control the
spread of the disease before January 15.
Nguyen Van Long, head of the epidemiology
department at the Animal Health Department under
the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said since late December the
number of infected animals with foot-and-mouth disease had totalled 2,388 in
the country. Most of them were unvaccinated pigs.
In the last 21 days, as many as
24 foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks have been
reported in six provinces and cities across the country.
An avian flu A/H5N6 outbreak that
lasted for 16 days was recorded in
Quang Ninh province, and an A/H5N1 outbreak of 15 days was
seen in Dak Lak province.
According to experts, the risk of
bird flu outbreaks remains high in the
coming time. Other strains of
bird flu such as A/H7N9, A/H5N2 and A/H5N8 could
infect poultry because of smuggling and illegal transport
of the animals in northern border provinces and cities.-VNS/VNA
Source: VietnamPlus
