Published Date: 2023-01-24 17:06:18 GMT
Subject: PRO/AH> Foot & mouth disease - Iraq (02): (NI,DI) livestock, spread, RFI
Archive Number: 20230124.8707950
FOOT & MOUTH DISEASE - IRAQ (02): (NINEVEH, DIYALA) LIVESTOCK, SPREAD, REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
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 22 Jan 2022
Source: Taqaddum News Agency [in Arabic, trans., edited]
https://takadum-news.com/archives/144473
On Sunday [22 Jan 2023], a member of the Local Union of Peasant Associations, Faisal Al-Dulaimi, revealed that foot and mouth disease [FMD] has returned to the farms of Diyala Governorate. Al-Dulaimi said in a press interview seen by Taqaddum, that "confirmed infections with FMD were detected in farms located in the Khalis district and Bani Saad district during the past few days, most of which were in buffalo herds."
He added, "Laboratory tests confirmed the cases, pointing out that the veterinary teams began to take preventive measures according to specific instructions within the framework of their efforts to prevent the spread of the disease, which causes severe damage to livestock, in addition to the risk of its transmission to humans." [See comment below].
Al-Dulaimi pointed out that "the cases are not many, but they are a source of concern, which requires additional support for veterinary teams in order to control it and prevent its spread to the rest of the agricultural areas."
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communicated by:
ProMED rapporteur Mahmoud Orabi
[Diyala Governorate extends to the northeast of Baghdad as far as the Iranian border. The information on FMD outbreaks in this territory supports earlier statements from Nineveh, in north western Iraq, about the introduction of the virus by a consignment of buffaloes from Baghdad (https://www.rudawarabia.net/arabic/middleeast/iraq/170120233). It was stated that the transported buffaloes were accompanied by a health certificate attesting them "free of disease", while likely undergoing their incubation period without showing signs of disease upon arrival in Nineveh.
The virus may be circulating elsewhere in Iraq. In the past, Baghdad has been a main source of spreading animal diseases, including rinderpest and FMD. This is due to its central location and being a main destination, in Iraq, of imported livestock and the site of a large slaughterhouse, maintaining intensive traffic of animal transports to and from all parts of the country.
Serotyping and genotyping of the Iraqi FMD strain(s) are urgently needed. It will be interesting to obtain information about their genetic relationship with FMDV strains circulating in other countries in the region.
FMD is not considered zoonotic by the CDC, meaning transmission from animals to people is exceptionally rare. There has only been one confirmed case of FMD in a human which occurred in 1966 in Great Britain. FMD is NOT the same as hand-foot-mouth disease in humans - Mod.AS
ProMED map:
Iraq: https://promedmail.org/promed-post?place=8707950,89]
