At a recent meeting of the parliament of Kyrgyzstan, ministers Ravshan Jeenbekov and Talantbek Uzakbaev warned that the disease had already led to significant losses of livestock.
“I have heard from farmers who do not know how to deal with this new form of FMD or how to treat their animals. The government needs to turn its attention to this issue and purchase a new vaccine,” said Jeenbekov.
“This type of FMD could be very harmful for the livestock sector and, if nothing is done, our farmers may find themselves in a very difficult situation this autumn,” added Uzakbaev.
According to preliminary data, 3,000–4,000 head of cattle have died so far this year in Kyrgyzstan, due to outbreaks of FMD. Samples of the new FMD strain have been already sent to Russia for study.
The discovery of the unknown form of FMD has disturbed veterinary services in neighbouring countries, especially Kazakhstan, where another large outbreak of FMD was discovered last week.
According to the Kazakhsan’s veterinary services, an outbreak revealed on 6 June resulted in the culling of 144 head of cattle and 576 small ruminants. Vaccination was performed on 2,977 head of cattle and 4,971 head of small ruminants, and veterinary services plan to vaccinate a further 14,237 head of cattle and 11,976 head of small ruminants.
