Pigs sick with foot-and-mouth disease detected in Khabarovsk Reg

KHABAROVSK, Jan 31 (PRIME) – The veterinary services found pigs sick with the foot-and-mouth disease at a farm in the Khabarovsk Region, head of the regional government’s veterinary department Nikolai Postoyev told reporters on Thursday, a day after a state of emergency was introduced in some areas the neighboring Primorsky Region over the disease.

“The disease was found at a new farm of Skifagro-DB in the Khabarovsk Region, at a farm that has not yet been fully launched yet. They transferred 1,750 heads of cattle there in October 2018. The farm’s management notified us of their suspicions of the disease striking some of their animals on January 28…and results of the analysis confirmed that on January 30,” Postoyev said.

Foot-and-mouth disease is a severe, highly contagious viral disease which affects livestock with significant economic impact. It does not affect people but poses a threat to cloven-hoofed animals - such as cattle, goats and sheep.

The regional authorities have already coordinated supplies of 39,000 doses of vaccine against the disease from the city of Vladimir, Russia’s only producer of the vaccine, on Friday. It would be enough to vaccinate cattle in several districts of the Khabarovsk Region that are connected to the Primorsky Region by highways, he said.

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