Food-and-mouth disease breaks out in 3 Filipino farms

Three farms in the northern Philippines were detected with foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), a national food watchdog said Friday.

Director of the National Meat Inspection Commission (NMIC) Efren Nuestro said in a radio interview that the outbreak of the FMD in three farms in Tanay town of Rizal Province was an isolated case.

"Our task force is now strictly monitoring public markets to check the unloading of infected meat," Nuestro said.

Tanay's Municipal Agricultural Office has also been closely monitoring the infected area and those within the five kilometer radius, he added.

Nuestro attributed the reported FMD outbreaks are partially due to the onset of the rainy season which is the peak of the virus infection.

According to the ABS-CBN news channel, the Tanay office of the provincial agriculturist claimed that the FMD virus allegedly came from an animal trader who came to buy sows and boars a few days before the onset of the infection.

In one of the farms, 30 infected pigs were vaccinated against FMD and are now on the way to recovery while the another farm with 115 had 92 infected pigs, the report said.

The FMD is a contagious disease usually found in cloven-footed animals particularly pigs and sheep and is characterized by the formation of vesicles and ulcers in the mouth and hoofs of the infected animals. The disease is also harmful to humans.

Source: Xinhua