# Foot and mouth



## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

Has there been anything in the Egyptian newspapers about the outbreak?


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

ahh just found loads lol 

In the space of only 48 hours, as many as 5,000 head of cattle have died of foot-and-mouth disease, leading to a boycott of meat and dairy products in every village in el-Gharbiya.
Veterinary units have ignored the problem and haven’t responded to the farmers’ complaints. If the Government doesn’t do something soon, things will only go from bad to worse. 
Many fellaheen have accused el-Gharbiya Governor Mohamed Abdel-Qader and veterinary officials of negligence; they are holding a sit-in outside the Governorate’s headquarters, with their dead cattle.
Thousands of breeders and farmers have been protesting in five villages in el-Gharbiya, demanding that Abdel-Qader resign.
Gamal Atwa, a cattle breeder, says that the veterinary unit in his village doesn’t help the farmers.
“We had to pay for a vet ourselves. He said that our cattle are all infected with foot-and-mouth. We are losing up to five calves every day, even though we’re doing what the vet told us,” he explains.
Although the veterinary units in the village bought a vaccine for the disease two months ago, the cattle are infected and the veterinary units are not listening to the peasants’ complaints.
Eid Sadeq, another cattle breeder, says that a good, healthy calf fetches LE80,000 ($13,300), but now cows of every age are dying.
Sayyed Hamed, another breeder, says that the disease appeared in January, but the governmental bodies aren’t offering them any assistance.
“I’m losing LE40,000 a week. In fact it’s more than that, as I use the profits from my dairy products to buy fodder for the cattle. Some of my workers are leaving, because they’re afraid of the animals infecting them,” he told Al-Ahram local newspaper.
Meanwhile, the General Authority for Veterinary Services (GAVS) has announced a state of emergency in some governorates. It has cordoned off the infected farms, preventing animals from going out and coming in.
Osama Selim, head of the GAVS, told Al-Masri Al-Youm independent newspaper that foot-and-mouth disease is transmitted by infected animals or by the people who look after them.
“The disease has existed in Egypt for decades, but now it’s spreading like wildfire because farmers don’t vaccinate their animals every six months from the age of four years on.
“Infected animals stop eating their fodder so their milk yields plummet, while 50 per cent of calves infected with the virus die. Because of the disease, gangs have been smuggling African calves into Egypt via the Libyan border,” he explained.
Professor Nahed Ghoneim of Cairo University says that foot-and-mouth disease rarely infects humans.
“Although the animals are being vaccinated, the disease is spreading at an alarming rate. Perhaps a new strain of the virus has appeared,” he comments.


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

I would guess there will now be a spate of killing strays again..

Using FM as an excuse and of course it is cloven hoof animals that the disease attacks


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## hhaddad (Apr 14, 2010)

MaidenScotland said:


> Has there been anything in the Egyptian newspapers about the outbreak?


 
The outbreak of F.M. is now into it's 3rd week the first I saw of it was 2 weeks ago on Al jazeera mubasher misr and they were saying it started a week ago and were stating that the m.b. jabs were issued too late in the season and this was the cause of infection in the first place. Also that the injection was sub standard.


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## GM1 (Sep 30, 2008)

Thank you for keeping us updated, I hadn't read anything on it yet.


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## hhaddad (Apr 14, 2010)

GM1 said:


> Thank you for keeping us updated, I hadn't read anything on it yet.


According to the newspapers the f.m. outbreak is getting worse.Also as I see it we all know F.M. is not dangerous to humans but rotting animal corpses left at the side of the road or thrown into the canals is and this is happening in the infected areas here. There from what I've heard has been no containment of the infected areas of the type we have seen in the U.K.


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

We are told that foot and mouth is harmless to humans but then again we were told that mad cow disease would not cross over either. They are not incinerating carcasses they are burying them and the rotting corpses will enter the water table at some point. Farmers are being asked not to throw the corpses into the canals. wth.. why would you need to tell anyone that!!

I was talking to an oilman yesterday who had asked his boss if the outbreak meant that they could not go out in the field as part of their organisation is in the affected area he was told.
Of course you can it has nothing to do with us.

Sheep/goats are still a common sight in the streets of Giza.


600 animals have been reported as being affected and now cured.. do you want this meat on your table?

I eat very little meat and what I do tends to be imported, of course I ate meat that friends had prepared but I will now let it be known I do not eat red meat full stop.

Another nail to hit tourists with.. would you come here on holiday wondering what sort of meat was going to be served up to you?


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## aykalam (Apr 12, 2010)

I used to eat very little red meat in Egypt, now I just don't. Even if the disease does not cross over to humans, who would want to eat flesh from a sick animal??? I think the main public health risk now is not from the virus itself but from the mismanagement of the corpses, which can become a much more serious problem if not dealt with properly, as Maiden says.

Can people catch foot and mouth disease? - Health questions - NHS Choices


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

Instead of putting energy and resources in to claiming land back..(it's not going anwhere and can wait) they should be doing something about this problem.

As far as I know the owner of the beast gets no compensation for it's death or help with the disposal and I suspect this is the biggest problem. Why will the poor man who owns two ill cows kill them and receive nothing when he can leave them in the hope they will survive the illness and then he can sell them on.


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## aykalam (Apr 12, 2010)

MaidenScotland said:


> Why will the poor man who owns two ill cows kill them and receive nothing when he can leave them in the hope they will survive the illness and then he can sell them on.


or make pasterma and wait until the media move on to sale the cured (but sick) meat


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

I am out tonight.. vegetarian menu for me lol


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## hhaddad (Apr 14, 2010)

*The latest*

Official reports issued by the Agriculture Ministry's public authority of veterinary services on Wednesday showed the spread of foot-and-mouth disease across some governorates. Total infected cases were estimated at 43,715, an increase of 3,715 cases since Tuesday.
The total fatal cases numbered 5,334, most of which were from calves, according to the reports, despite statements by Agriculture Minister Mahmoud Reda Ismail that the ministry had controlled the spread of the disease across governorates. 
Gharbiya had the highest number of infections at 19,871; 2,085 of which were fatal. Daqahlia followed with 5,846 cases with 522 deaths. In Beheira, the total number of cases was estimated at 2,422.
The reports also indicated the absence of infection in the Red Sea, North Sinai and South Sinai governorates.
Meanwhile, Suhair Abdel Qader, head of the preventive medicine department at the General Authority for Veterinary Services, said fatal cases began to decrease over the past few days and that infections declined in Alexandria, Fayoum and Minya governorates. She also added that 45 percent were treated while the other 55 percent are still undergoing treatment with the help of veterinary authorities.
Abdel Qader said that the final results from the Institute for Animal Health Pirbright Laboratory regarding the vaccines that will cure the disease were supposed to arrive Wednesday. She said that the ministry is waiting for the British institute to develop the vaccine for the virus, to import it and assign the Veterinary Vaccines Institute to start producing it locally.
According to Abdel Qader, Egypt asked six countries including France, India, Turkey, Switzerland and England to import the vaccine.
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm


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## hhaddad (Apr 14, 2010)

A new strain of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) has hit Egypt and threatens to spread throughout North Africa and the Middle East, jeopardizing food security in the region, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization said on Thursday.
There have been 40,222 suspected cases of the disease in Egypt and 4,658 animals, mostly calves, have already died, the FAO said in a statement citing official estimates.
"Although foot-and-mouth disease has circulated in the country for some years, this is an entirely new introduction of a virus strain known as SAT2, and livestock have no immune protection against it," the Rome-based agency said.
Vaccines are urgently needed as 6.3 million buffalo and cattle and 7.5 million sheep and goats are at risk in Egypt, the FAO said.
"The area around the lower Nile Delta appears to be severely affected, while other areas in Upper Egypt and the west appear less so," Juan Lubroth, FAO's chief veterinary officer, said, calling for strong action to prevent the spread of the disease.
FMD is a highly infectious and sometimes fatal disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals such as sheep, goats, cattle, buffalo and pigs. FMD is not a direct threat to humans.
Meat and milk from sick animals are unsafe for consumption, not because FMD affects humans, but because foodstuffs entering the food chain should only come from animals that are known to be healthy, the FAO said.
Egypt has some reserves of its own vaccines, but these do not protect against the SAT2 strain. The country could need regional support in mobilizing effective ones, the FAO said.
With vaccines sometimes taking up to two weeks to confer immunity, joint efforts to boost biosecurity measures to limit the spread of the disease are urgently needed, said the FAO, whose emergency team visited Egypt last week.
Such measures include limiting animal movements and avoiding contact with animals from other farms; avoiding purchasing animals in the immediate term since they could have come from contaminated sources, preferably by burning carcasses.

UN agency: New foot-and-mouth disease strain hits Egypt | Egypt Independent


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

Just watched the BBC news, a reporter is on an infected farm filming.

No separation of animals, no quarantine. Once again the farmers are saying that they are being told not to throw the animal in the canal (this really does make me want to scream, who in their right mind would throw dead animals into the water system). Government clean up is the animal covered in a thin layer of soil.


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