Foot-and-mouth disease spreads in Vietnam

Feb 10, 2009, 9:12 GMT

   Hanoi - A senior government official on Tuesday blamed illegal cattle imports and mistakes by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease that has so far spread to five provinces.

   Deputy Agriculture Minister Diep Kinh Tan said the outbreak had been caused in part by farmers who illegally imported cattle and buffalo infected with the highly contagious virus from Cambodia and Laos.

   Tan said there had been cases of NGOs with insufficient cattle experience that bought animals to donate to poor families that turned out to be diseased. He cited an NGO that accidentally donated 49 infected buffalos to the Kon Tum Breeding Centre in the central province of Kon Tum, ultimately infecting 22 animals on surrounding farms.

   'You grant the poor 10 cows, but your 10 cows infect 300 cows,' Tan said. 'That means you are hurting people.'

   Local media on Tuesday quoted Bui Quang Anh, director of Vietnam's Animal Health Department, as saying that hoof-and-mouth disease, which is also called hoof-and-mouth disease, has infected more than 800 head of cattle and buffalo in five provinces, from Son La in the north to Long An in the south.

   The Animal Health Department has begun requiring NGOs to obtain approval before donating animals.

   Farmers in Vietnam often hesitate to report infections to local authorities for fear their cattle would be destroyed without adequate compensation, which allows the disease to spread. The government has agreed to compensate farmers at a rate of 30,000 dong (1.70 dollars) per kilogram, about two-thirds the market price.

   Tan said the government vaccinates against the disease only in high-risk areas of the country.

   'We cannot vaccinate nationwide due to limited resources,' Tan said.

   Foot-and-mouth disease infects and sometimes kills cattle, pigs, buffalo and other hoofed animals. Outbreaks in Europe and China have led to large-scale culling of sick animals.