- HANOI (Reuters) -- Vietnam,
already grappling with bird flu that has wiped out millions of its poultry
and killed 18 people in Asia, has detected a lethal outbreak of foot-and-mouth
disease in one province, a health official said on Monday.
-
- "The disease has hit us very hard," said an
official at the animal health department of the central province of Quang
Nam, about 465 miles south of the capital Hanoi.
-
- She said the disease had killed more than 1,000 cattle
and 200 pigs from six districts in the province.
-
- "We will try to save the cattle by injecting vaccines
but all infected pigs will be slaughtered and destroyed," she said.
-
- Quang Nam is the only province in the country that has
reported confirmed cases of the disease, the official said.
-
- Bird flu sweeping parts of Asia has killed 13 people
in Vietnam, and five in Thailand, but foot and mouth disease is harmless
to humans, though highly contagious among animals.
-
- Henry Schmick, Agricultural Officer at the U.S. embassy
in Hanoi, told Reuters that foot-and-mouth outbreaks are not unusual in
Vietnam and the region.
-
- "Periodically, Vietnam suffers from foot-and-mouth
disease," he said, adding that it can take a mild form.
-
- Vietnam is not a major exporter of pork or beef, he said.
The southeast Asian country has a cattle population of nearly eight million
and about 23 million swine.
-
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