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Outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease eliminated in Russia's Far East

The sick animals and the ones that had physical contact with them have been slain
Photo ITAR-TASS
Photo ITAR-TASS

VLADIVOSTOK, April 24 (Itar-Tass) — An outbreak of the foot-and-mouth disease that occurred earlier this year in Russia's Far-Eastern Primorsky /Maritime/ territory has been fully liquidated, officials at the territorial veterinary service said Tuesday.

All the restrictions imposed by the territorial Governor to check the spread of the infection have been lifted and all the special measures have been rounded up in the villages where sick animals were diagnozed with having it.

The sick animals and the ones that had physical contact with them have been slain. To prevent a repetition of the outbreak, booster vaccination has been given to almost 130,000 heads of cattle.

Two sources of the dangerous disease were found in the Primorsky territory in February and March. The first one was identified in the village of Usachovka, Khorol district, where the sick animals were spotted on four private households.

The second outbreak took place in the village of Pospelovka, Oktyabrsky district, in March. The two hotbeds of the disease are located at a distance of 70 kilometers away from each other.

The sick animals were found on a farm where 368 cows were kept together.

Laboratory tests exposed the pan-Asia virus antigen and genom in the sick people.

The previous time an outbreak of the foot-and-mouth disease occurred in the Primorsky territory was in the fall of 2005. It affected 1,715 animals then. They were slaughtered and buried at special burial sites.

The foot-and-mouth is a highly contagious epizootic disease that affects the cloven-hooved mammals especially quickly.

Man, too, may catch this virus from the animals. Carriers of the virus are foodstuffs, raw materials, water, animals' bedding, people's footwear and clothes, and means of transportation.

Specialists on the regional commission of Russia's agricultural and sanitary watchdog service, Rospotrebnadzor, the disease was brought to the Primorsky territory this time by sick animals from other regions of the country.