Vaccinate farm animals against foot-and-mouth disease: Expert

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, August 10

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) caused by a virus is a contagious disease which spreads fast from one animal to another, if any of them at the farm is affected by the same.

Loss of animals has been noticed from some areas of the state. Hence, it is important to take precautionary measures.

Dr Deepti Narang, HoD, Veterinary Microbiology, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, said three types of FMD virus were prevalent — O, A and Asia-1 — among which O was the most prevalent. The virus affects cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats and pigs but severely hits the milch cattle.

Hence, it affects dairy farmers economically due to loss of milk production and loss of productive animals.

“The current season is heavily prone to the occurrence of such type of infections in the animals due to which it is important to take extra care before and during the rainy season. Vaccination for the FMD must be done to protect the animals and should be done every six months. The vaccine can protect from all three types of the virus,” she said.

Biosecurity measures at the farm should be undertaken such as keeping the farm area clean and hygienic. Milking machines, ropes, feed and fodder and other equipment used for sick animals should not be used for other animals at the farm. Animal attendants should take extra hygienic measures after attending the sick animals and should not attend other animals.

The farm should be disinfected regularly and overcrowding of animals should be avoided. The farmers could easily identify the sick animals with symptoms such as high fever, vesicles in mouth and foot and excessive salivation. If such signs were seen, the animal should be isolated from the rest. The animals must be tested at laboratories and appropriate treatment from veterinary doctors should be taken to control the disease at the farm. There was a programme of the Central Government to protect animals from the FMD by vaccinating them, so the animals must be vaccinated on a regular basis, Dr Deepti said.

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