December 4, 2014

Philippines bans African cattle due to FMD

The Philippines has ordered a temporary ban on the imports of cattle and cattle products from Botswana, Africa, where an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) had been discovered.

Proceso J Alcala, agriculture secretary, called for the immediate suspension of processing and evaluation of the application and issuance of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Import Clearance to FMD-prone animals and their products and by-products, from Botswana.

The Department of Agriculture has also instructed veterinary quarantine officers at all major ports to impede and confiscate the shipment of cattle products from the country in order to guard against the spread of the disease.

Alcala said the order was necessary to protect the health of the local livestock population. The Philippines is presently free from FMD.

The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said 44 FMD cases had been reported in Gumare, Ngamiland where 1,430 cattle grazing in a communal area were said to be susceptible.

The OIE said the source of the outbreak was through contact with wild species. Cattle were displaying signs of lameness and drooling. While normally a regularly vaccinated zone, the suspect herd missed a routine vaccination in August, when access was cut off due to flooding.

Control measures have been fully implemented, with more than 28,000 cattle now vaccinated in the area surrounding the outbreak, and there have been no reports that the disease has spread outside the original outbreak.