ULAANBAATAR, February 04. /ITAR-TASS/. An outbreak of the foot-and-mouth disease has been registered in the Sukhbaatar aimag (region) in the east of Mongolia, the national news agency MONTSAME said Tuesday.

For this reason, Mongolian veterinary services have issued an instruction to the local residents to refrain from going outside the administrative boundaries of their region. Students heading from Sukhbaatar to the national capital Ulaanbaatar for studies should take injections against the disease.

To date, the local vets have registered cases of the foot-and-mount disease in fifteen families of herdsmen and in 86 head of cattle.

In spite of the restrictive and preventive measures that have already been put in effect, the infection continues spreading and has prompted the Mongolian government to install sanitary posts for disinfection of vehicles, cargoes and people on the key transport routes.

The foot-and-mouth disease, officially known as Aphthae epixooricae, is a viral disease mostly affecting cloven-hooved animals, like cows. Its symptoms are usually made manifest in two or three days of fever, blisters in the mouth and later on lameness.

Cases of humans contracting the disease are extremely rare. In most situations, the infection was transmitted to children.