Wednesday, May 02, 2012
By Neena Rai
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
LONDON (Dow Jones)--Confirmation of foot-and-mouth disease in the Gaza Strip highlights the importance of stepping up efforts to prevent the infectious virus spreading throughout the region and possibly to Europe, the United Nation's food body said Wednesday.
A new strain of the sometimes fatal cloven-hoofed animal disease, which can cause serious livestock production losses, was found in Egypt and Libya in February. The new SAT2 virus was confirmed to have spread on April 19 to the Gaza town of Rafah, near the Egyptian border.
"Diseases simply do not respect international boundaries, and if FMD SAT2 reaches deeper into the Middle East it could spread throughout vast areas, threatening the Gulf countries--even southern and eastern Europe, and perhaps beyond," said Juan Lubroth, Chief Veterinary Officer and head of Animal Health Service at the Food and Agriculture Organization.
The organization warned that vaccines to limit the spread of foot-and-mouth remain in short supply and the priority now is to limit animal movements to prevent it spreading.
Movements of animals from the Nile Delta east through the Sinai Peninsula and north into the Gaza Strip are deemed the highest risk for the spread of the SAT2 virus into the greater Middle East region.
Gaza Strip will get an initial 20,000 vaccine doses, and another 40,000 doses will be made available as soon as possible for sheep and goats, the FAO said.
After official reports of SAT2 outbreaks in Egypt, Israel implemented targeted vaccinations across its southern borders to create a buffer zone to protect animals most at risk.
-By Neena Rai, Dow Jones Newswires; 4420-7842-9450; neena.rai@dowjones.com.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
02-05-12 1003GMT
