January 19, 2006

China's FMD outbreak in Jiangsu under control

A recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) near Xuzhou, in eastern China's Jiangsu province, has been brought under control, the Jiangsu Agriculture and Forestry Bureau (JAFB) said on Jan 18.

A total of 100 cows raised in the Duanzhai village of Xinyi county were killed and buried on Jan 13--about three days after the outbreak was detected--in order to prevent further infection, said bureau official Yuan Rijin, who is also in charge of the disease investigation.

The Xinyi government spokesman Xu Caizhu said that no other cases of infection have been reported in surrounding villages, adding that the outbreak is now under control.

The village has been disinfected twice daily since the disease broke out, and facilities used by the cows either destroyed or fully disinfected, while all domestic animals that might be infected by the disease have been immunised, Xu revealed.

On Jan 11, about 20 cows in the village were reported to be showing the symptoms of slobbering and water blistering; JAFB experts later confirmed the FMD outbreak after an investigation on Jan 12.

By Jan 16, the Ministry of Agriculture said that the cows suffered Asian I type of FMD, defined by the World Health Organisation as a highly contagious disease between domestic animals.

Seven people who raised the infected cattle are now being kept in isolation for observation.