NAQS issues ‘High Alert’ over outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease in S/Africa

The Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS) has issued an alert in respect of the outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in Vhembe and Capricorn Districts in Limpopo, South Africa, which the agency says should be prevented from getting into the country.

NAQS in a statement said following this incident, its officers at all ports of entry are on the lookout for live cloven-hooved animals and associated raw products that may be imported from South Africa and contiguous countries. They are on high alert to minimize the risk of the entry of infected animals or contaminated items of animal origin from the Southern Africa axis. They are under instruction to quarantine any animal that could reasonably be deemed to be a suspect carrier.

Food and mouth disease is an infectious and sometimes fatal viral disease that affects sheep, goat, pig, cattle and other bovids. The clinical symptoms of the disease are high fever which may last between two and six days; blisters inside the mouth which may lead to excessive secretion of stringy and foamy saliva and to drooling; and blisters on the feet which may eventually rupture and cripple the animal.

The disease, NAQS says takes a huge economic toll on animal farming. Because it is highly infectious, the disease can devastate herds and cause serious losses to livestock farmers. It can spread by infected animals through contaminated feed, farming equipment, vehicles, wild and domesticated predators.