Outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in south

The Kyrgyz government has imposed an initial 21-day quarantine on cattle movements in the south of the country following an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. The government has also set up a 30-km buffer zone around the affected area, Jamgyrchy Bektaev, head of the Southern Veterinary Department, told the press on 12 June in the southern city of Osh. Bektaev explained that almost 400 cases of foot-and-mouth disease in domestic cattle had been registered since the first infected animals were detected in February. The disease has struck the main cattle-breeding districts of Kara-Suu, Uzgen and Kara-Kulja in Osh province, as well as the Aksy district of neighbouring Jalal-Abad province. This outbreak follows similar cases seen in Andijan province in eastern Uzbekistan last year. The affected districts are the main suppliers of meat and dairy products for towns in the region, including Osh, the regional centre. The drop in supply to the area has already resulted in a rise in prices locally, traders said. Islam Abdimomunov, a senior veterinary expert, has said that the outbreak could also mean a serious loss of meat and dairy livestock in the region. The veterinary services, on 24-hour alert, have set up control posts to monitor cattle transportation and are also treating sick animals and vaccinating calves. Specialists from the state veterinary service suspect that cattle moved from neighbouring Uzbekistan to summer pastures in Kyrgyzstan could be the source of the infection, although they are not discounting the possibility of a home-grown outbreak. “According to our data, in Osh province there are over 30,000 head of cattle from Uzbekistan, some of which have been moved illegally. We have already moved out 8,000 head of sheep and 200 to 300 cows,” Bektaev told the press. But Bektaev admitted that when the first cases were registered in February no cattle had been moved from Uzbekistan. During Soviet times, cattle breeders in neighbouring Uzbekistan used to move cattle to pastures in Osh province in Kyrgyzstan for the summer, but this practice was stopped after privatisation in Kyrgyzstan and disagreements over price. Kambar Uzakov, deputy director of the agricultural development department in Osh province, told IRIN that there was no intergovernmental agreement between the sides on the use of pastures. Agreements are made at district level and both sides should ensure that cattle have been vaccinated against various diseases. Uzakov didn’t exclude local sources of livestock infection as many local cattle owners avoid veterinary services to save money, he said. “Local veterinary control is poor. This service collapsed in the 1990s and it is just about to recover,” Adil Razzakov, a cattle breeder from Kara-Suu district, told IRIN. Experts say that properly boiled and cooked milk and meat from infected animals should not pose a danger to human beings.