Foot and mouth disease: Ring vaccination in affected villages

Department of animal husbandry and veterinary services has taken up ring vaccination in villages where cases of foot and mouth disease were reported in cattle.

“On receiving complaints about the foot and mouth disease, veterinarian visited the spot and carried out ring vaccination drive in and around the village. The disease is reported not only in Dakshina Kannada (DK) district but also across the state,” Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services Deputy Director Prasanna Kumar told DH.

The vaccination drive will cover 2.5 lakh animals once required vaccines are supplied to the district, said Kumar and added that the drive had been launched in 15 districts. The vaccines against foot and mouth disease are supplied by the Centre and officials had promised to supply the vaccine within a week.

The district is ready with a preparedness plan and teams have been formed to carry out a mass vaccination drive against the disease. Following
reports of the disease, veterinarians are involved in treating the affected animals, he added.

“In fact, the vaccination for cattle is conducted once in six months under National Animal Disease Control Programme (NADCP). But due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the
vaccination drive was not conducted since a year,” sources added.

“The reporting of cases of foot and mouth disease exposes the failure of the government which did not conduct vaccination drive on schedule. If the drive had been carried out as per the schedule, our animals would not have suffered and milk yield would not have reduced,” farmers said.

The symptoms of the disease include a rise in temperature, lack of feed, incomplete/complete cessation of milk yield and appearance of vesicles on the animals. The disease has a negative impact on the production of milk, the farmer said.

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