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Foot-and-mouth spreads to Gampaha District
Gampaha District has also been declared a foot-and-mouth disease infected zone by the Animal Health and Production Department, raising the number of districts infected by the disease to seven.
Dr. Kumar De Silva, Director General of the Animal Health and Production Department said three cases of foot-and-mouth disease had been detected in Karandeniya in Galle. The animals had been transported to the location from Welisara area in Gampaha District, prompting authorities to ban all sales and transportation and slaughter of cows, goats, buffaloes and pigs in the district.
Cattle affected by foot-and-mouth disease in farms in Puttalam. Pix by Hiran Priyankara Jayasekera
The three animals had been released from a slaughter house for religious purposes. The cattle had been handed over to farmers in Galle, who transported the animals to Karandeniya from Welisara. As there is a threat of the disease spreading to the Colombo and Kalutara Districts due to this, the department has taken steps to vaccine all animals within a buffer area along the route taken to transport the animals to Karandeniya.
“The department will keep the area under strict surveillance and will take immediate action if the disease spreads in the area” Dr. De Silva said. According to him, action has been taken to vaccinate all cattle in Gampaha District with immediate effect. Steps have been taken to vaccinate all swine in the area as well. The animals are routinely vaccinated once a year though this year’s round of vaccinations is yet to start. To date the department has been focusing on vaccinating cattle and controlling the disease among the cattle, but Dr. De Silva said it was hoped to start vaccinating pigs from next Monday.
Although vaccines given to pigs have been ordered following routine procedures, the department has ordered 30,000 more vaccines as an emergency consignment to be airlifted from France. 20,000 of this batch will be sent immediately to be used to vaccinate swine in all farms in affected areas and 10,000 will be kept as a buffer stock. The vaccine can be used on cattle as well.
Since the first detection in the first week of February in some areas in Puttalam District, Anuradhapura, Vavuniya, Ampara and Trincomalee Districts and the Oddusuddan Divisional Secretariat area in Kilinochchi District have been declared infected districts. Last week the department declared the entire Puttalam District an infected zone, prohibiting transport and slaughter of specified animals anywhere within the district.
“It has been very difficult to control the spread of the disease in the district due to illicit transportation and slaughtering. To curb the situation we have declared the entire district as an infected zone,” Dr. De Silva explained.
5,600 animals have been diagnosed with the infection and 166 animal deaths have been reported of which 106 are cows and 60 are swine, he said.
The disease has been traced to have originated in a free roaming heard in Pallaly in Jaffna. It was also learnt that the illicit transportation of a lorry load of cattle from the Pallaly to Puttalam has caused the disease to spread.