Published Date: 2025-04-14 9:08:10 PM GMT+1
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Foot & mouth disease - Pakistan: (KP) livestock, spreading
Archive Number: 8723650
FOOT & MOUTH DISEASE - PAKISTAN: (KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA) LIVESTOCK, SPREADING
A ProMED-mail post http://www.promedmail.org
ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases http://www.isid.org
Date: Sun 13 Apr 2025
Source: The News [edited]
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1300778-foot-and-mouth-disease-outbreak-grips-waziristan
The Lower South Waziristan has reported the outbreak of foot-and-mouth
disease, sparking alarm among residents, health professionals, and
local officials.
The outbreak, which has taken hold in multiple tehsils [administrative
area] including Toi Khulla, Zarmelan, Birmal, Wana, and Shakai, is
rapidly spiraling out of control, with over a dozen livestock deaths
already reported and hundreds more animals were reported to have
fallen ill. Sources said that for the past year [2024], no vaccination
drives were conducted in the region. Veterinary hospitals remain
ill-equipped and understocked, with a critical shortage of medicines.
The absence of timely funding from both federal and provincial
governments has left these facilities unable to respond to the crisis
effectively, leaving local veterinary staff helpless.
--
Communicated by:
ProMED
via
ProMED-SoAs
["South Waziristan District was a district in the Dera Ismail Khan
Division of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, before
splitting into the Lower South Waziristan District and the Upper South
Waziristan District on 13 Apr 2022"
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Waziristan_District). As
indicated in the news report above, foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) has
broken out in the lower South Waziristan, and the disease is spreading
across 5 tehsils there.
"Foot-and-mouth disease is one of the world's most economically
important viral diseases of livestock. The virus infects cattle, pigs,
and sheep and many cloven-hoofed wildlife species. The infection
results in vesicular lesions in and around the mouth and on the feet,
resulting in the reluctance of an animal to eat or move"
(https://www.msdvetmanual.com/generalized-conditions/foot-and-mouth-disease/foot-and-mouth-disease-in-animals).
The causative agent is an _Aphthovirus_, a member of the family
Picornaviridae, which has antigenically 7 distinct serotypes termed:
A, O, C, Asia 1, and SAT (Southern African Territories) 1, 2, and 3.
In a South Asian country like Pakistan where FMD is endemic, at-risk
cattle populations should be vaccinated twice a year, 6 months apart
between the doses, with a killed vaccine antigenically matching the
serotype(s) of the virus in circulation. - Mod.PKB
ProMED map of South Waziristan, Federally Administered Tribal Areas,
Pakistan: https://promedmail.org/promed-post?place=8723625,42680]
